U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., says the Senate is likely to vote by next week on money to be used to fight the Zika virus, the disease spread by mosquitoes and blamed for thousands of debilitating birth defects in South and Central America.
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Because Massachusetts already tests mosquitoes for West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis, Brown said, the state is well positioned to respond to emerging viruses and the arrival of new mosquito species.
Marin HHS is working with local health care providers to test for the Zika virus. Reported infections in Florida also include seven pregnant women.
Whether it would get funding to test for Zika is unknown, said Lori Stangl, director of clinical service for the Jo Daviess County Health Department.
The first confirmed Zika case in North Dakota was reported in April, when a woman who had traveled to Puerto Rico while pregnant tested positive.
“Although now there is no risk for local transmission, our residents could be exposed to Zika virus through travel or sexual contact with anyone infected with Zika”, Dr. Lisa Santora, Marin County deputy health officer, said in a statement.
Congress should not take its Memorial Day recess until funding to combat the Zika virus is approved, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said again Wednesday.
The mosquito-borne illness is known to cause mild symptoms, including fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cases of Zika were first seen in the Caribbean in November 2015.
Tests have confirmed Zika in a total of 472 people in the US, with all the infections associated with travel to Zika-infected areas in other countries, according to the CDC.
“I knew it (Zika virus) was around and I was thinking it was Zika and of course I was thinking that”.
Recently, a research team of scientists from the United States and Brazil published a finding in Nature, showing that the Brazilian Zika virus strain could lead to birth defects.
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While another mom tries to avoid mosquitoes all together. Health officials say it appears the disease can be spread through sexual contact, among other ways, and that the virus may remain dormant in a person’s body for a couple months. It however, causes microcephaly in unborn children which is characterised by unusually small heads, and associated with incomplete brain development which results in developmental problems in babies.
