A pregnant woman in Victoria has been diagnosed with the Zika virus, state Health Minister Jill Hennessy confirms.
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Dr Taylor said the virus could be transmitted sexually and pregnant women or couples trying to conceive who have travelled in affected areas should watch out for symptoms.
Officials said the disease is short-lived and lasts about seven days. The first person to die was a man already suffering from lupus, which doctors believe left his immune system already vulnerable when he caught Zika. “It was just a matter of time before, through testing we discovered our first case of Zika in a Marylander who has traveled”, said Dr. Howard Haft, of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Purdue associate professor in Hospitality and Tourism Management Jonathon Day said the Zika virus has had very little impact on travel so far. As such, the arrival of travelers makes it likely that Maryland will see confirmed cases of infection.
The disease causes a range of symptoms including joint pain and high fevers.
The mosquito that carries the Zika virus is not native to NY.
Stay with WBALTV.com and 11 News for more on this developing story.
Center for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci claimed that the emergency funding requested by Obama is needed to address current vaccine developments and projected needs.
Asked if health officials couldn’t instead use unspent money that Congress allocated for Ebola in West Africa, Frieden said those remaining dollars are committed to ensuring the remnants of that outbreak are stamped out.
The Zika virus has been spreading throughout the Americas and has been linked to birth defects and other negative health issues.
The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study of a 25-year-old European woman infected with Zika in Brazil while pregnant last year which it says demonstrates the link between Zika and microcephaly.
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Scientists suspect that when Zika strikes a pregnant woman it can cause her fetus to develop microcephaly – a condition that causes the baby to be born with an abnormally small head.
