An elderly Utah resident is the first person in the continental U.S.to die while being infected with the Zika virus.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells WSB they have been notified by public health officials in Utah about the death of a resident who developed Zika virus after travelling to an area with ongoing Zika transmission.
Whether Zika was the actual cause of death in the Utah case is unclear-and may never be known, a Salt Lake County Health Department spokesman said.
“Brito said the health department is traveling to locations throughout the state – including women’s health clinics, medical schools and hospitals – and organizing calls with other service providers such as local health departments and maternal child health providers”.
In April, Legacy announced the area’s first case of Zika in a pregnant woman, a Fort Bend woman who’d traveled to El Salvador.
Glynn County is identifying the mosquitoes it catches, especially the mosquitoes that could carry the Zika virus like the Aedes Aegypti. Because of the risk of birth defects that the virus poses the CDC is recommending now that men who live in or travel to areas with Zika who have partners that are pregnant use condoms or don’t have sex.
Virtually all cases of Zika diagnosed in the USA were contracted while overseas, although a small number of cases were spread through sexual contact with an infected person.
Worldwide health officials previously said pregnant women should skip the games, but the virus can also be spread through sex and may persist in semen longer than blood.
The District Director of Health tells FOX19 NOW mosquitoes become infected when they bite a person already infected with the virus.
People who have traveled recently and who are concerned about any illness they may be experiencing should contact their health care provider.
Two women contracted the virus overseas but neither one is pregnant.
Glynn County does not have any reported cases.
Almost 540 pregnant women in the United States and territories have Zika, which is proven to cause the devastating birth defect microcephaly and is suspected to cause other neurological defects, too.
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Now in the United States, there have been no locally acquired cases of Zika within the nation.
