The person recently returned to the US from an area overseas where Zika is prevalent, reported the Knox County Health Department, which received lab confirmation of the case from the state Department of Health on Friday.
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The CDC advises pregnant women not to travel to an area where Zika transmission is ongoing, and to use insect repellent and wear long trousers and long-sleeved shirts if they are in those areas. Health officials are going door-to-door in Broward and Miami-Dade counties near the homes and work places of the two individuals.
Tom Skinner, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s senior press officer, said Thursday in response to the study’s findings, “the study would need to be replicated to have a better understanding of possible implications”.
Health leaders in the United States said the findings have to be replicated.
The funding will go to protect pregnant women, sureillance and investigation of the virus, shoring up lab capacity and improving mosquito control, as well as a registry to help monitor pregnant women with Zika and their infants.
More than 1,300 Zika infections have been reported in the USA, none involving bites from local mosquitoes; 14 of these were sexually transmitted, and one lab worker was infected by a needle stick. The rest – about 15 people – acquired Zika through sexual contact with a partner who contracted the virus overseas. Prior to this infant, nine cases of Zika had been reported from Kentucky.
As of July 20, the CDC reported 1,404 cases of the virus in the continental United States and Hawaii.
It can cause a variety of symptoms, including rash and joint and muscle pain, but often carries no symptoms at all.
Florida’s Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not immediately respond to questions about their investigation, but health officials said the case had no apparent connection to travel outside the country. “Local mosquito transmission means that mosquitoes in the area are infected with Zika virus and spreading it to people”.
As of July 14, 400 pregnant women in the USA have been infected – 54 more than the previous week. No locally acquired cases have been confirmed.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health on Friday warned women who are pregnant and have a sexual partner who has traveled to a country where Zika is circulating to abstain from sex for the duration of the pregnancy or use condoms.
According to the Florida Department of Health, 306 travel-related cases have been confirmed in counties across the state. USA lawmakers officially requested $1.9-billion for fighting the virus, but that has yet to be approved by the White House. However, the virus can cause severe birth defects in babies if mothers are infected during pregnancy.
It can also trigger Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which leads the immune system to attack the nerves and may lead to paralysis.
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Wear long-sleeved shirts and long trousers.
