The state’s first case of Zika is an unidentified woman who was not in South Dakota when she became infected.
Advertisement
Officials say the case is in a woman who traveled to a country where the virus has been spreading. She later developed symptoms, the Department of Health said today in a press release.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the infection. The woman wasn’t identified.
The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne infection and is not carried by the mosquitoes in South Dakota.
“This is a good reminder for anyone who travels to Zika-affected areas that it’s important to protect themselves from mosquito bites”, said Dr. Lon Kightlinger, state epidemiologist.
As the Zika virus is formally characterized as the first mosquito-borne sexually transmitted infection, researchers are rapidly trying to figure out how risky and widespread the infection actually is.
Since the United States has not had widespread local transmission of Zika through mosquitoes, it’s possible for researchers to break out which cases may have been transmitted by mosquitoes and which have been through sex.
Zika is spread by a specific type of mosquito – the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Symptoms can show two to seven days after becoming infected. If you traveled to an area with active Zika virus transmission up to eight weeks before your pregnancy was confirmed, discuss your travel history with your doctor. Though both are sexually transmitted infections, Zika involves bodily fluids and is not like the humanpapilloma virus, Petit said.
There are no vaccines or treatment for the virus.
The Ministry of Health also reminds the public that personal protection to avoid mosquito bites is an effective prevention strategy to reduce the spread of the disease. The money will be used to better detect microcephaly – a serious birth defect of the brain – and other adverse outcomes the virus causes. I encourage my patients here in Tennessee to make an informed decision based on the risk – and being that we are in an area where there are no documented locally-transmitted cases, the overall risk of transmission is extremely low.
People rarely die of Zika and usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital.
Advertisement
Because symptoms are mild, many people don’t realize they’ve been infected.
