The Minnesota Department of Public Health (MDH) says an Anoka County woman in her 60’s has contracted the Zika virus.
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Rousseff said she had asked a summit of the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to launch “cooperative action in the fight against the Zika virus”, which originated in Africa and arrived in Latin America a year ago. It usually causes a mild illness but is suspected in an unusual birth defect and other health issues.
In Brazil, health officials have noticed a sharp spike in cases of those birth defects amid the Zika virus outbreak; the connection is still being investigated. Santos says 170 communities have been affected and the virus could affect as many as 600,000 people in his country this year.
During the meeting, the White House summary said, Obama emphasized the need to accelerate research efforts to make better diagnostic tests available, to develop vaccines and therapeutics, and to make sure that all Americans have information about Zika virus and steps they can take to protect themselves from infection. Medical historians say El Salvador’s recommendation that women not get pregnant is historically unprecedented and raises the possibility that this Zika outbreak may become a generationally defining event for parts of Latin America.
Committee head Eduardo Lopez tells local media that the risk of Zika “continues being very low in Argentina”.
With Carnival celebrations just over a week away and the Olympic Games set for Rio de Janeiro in August, Brazil is poised to receive hundreds of thousands of visitors in the coming months, adding to concerns over the spread of the virus. The last case involving a Minnesotan was in 2014 after a man traveled to French Polynesia.
“It’s a must, as there is a possibility that on rare occasions, Zika virus might be transmitted through sex”, he said.
Microcephaly has been linked to this virus infection.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said Zika virus spreads to people through mosquito bites.
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Studies have found links between Zika and microcephaly, but no scientists have identified a causal relationship between the two. The widespread use of air conditioning in the United States would likely further mitigate Zika’s spread because mosquitoes capable of carrying Zika do not like the cold. In Brazil, doctors have observed a surge in microcephaly cases in areas hard hit by Zika.
