A top public health official says there’s been no local transmission of the Zika (ZEE’-kuh) virus in the United States, so any talk about women in the country delaying pregnancy “is not even an issue for discussion at this point”.In most cases, Zika virus infection is so mild that patients are unaware they are ill. Of 2,425 pregnant women who had no symptoms, seven were pregnant. He also says it’s important to stop mosquitoes from laying eggs, which they can only do in standing water.
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Last week, House Appropriations Committee Democrats sought to attach Obama’s Zika request to an unrelated spending bill but were denied by Republicans controlling the panel. To do so, they said, could risk revealing the identity of the pregnant women. About half of the cases are in Puerto Rico, where the virus is circulating locally. If you travel to an area affected by Zika or are just concerned, Wieghmink suggests you use an EPA approved insect repellant.
According to lead author Sharoda Dasgupta, PhD, the absolute numbers are small, with positive results for 182 pregnant women of 3,335 who were tested and of whom 1,541 had symptoms of infection.
“It seems nearly inevitable that we will have a travel-related case”, McKeown said. “So, the CDC travel advisory should be adhered to by pregnant women”.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s Zika Task Force, which consists of various state agencies, is working to create a Zika Action Plan should a Virginia resident become infected by a local mosquito.
But another species, Asian tiger mosquitoes or Aedes albopictus, is thought to live in parts of southern Wisconsin and southern Minnesota, along with all of Iowa and IL.
“At warmer temperatures, this time period is shortened, leading to a greater likelihood that transmission will occur before the mosquito dies”, said Lyle Petersen, an expert on vector-borne diseases at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases in Fort Collins, Colorado.
She said that while the 13 groups are competing for the $10,000 grant, the challenge has fostered collaboration between teams.
Meanwhile, UW-Madison researchers continue to study Zika in rhesus macaque monkeys. Those criteria included the existence of cases of microcephaly that have been strongly linked to documented exposure to Zika virus. Because while the symptoms of fever and rash resolve in a week, the Zika virus is present in the semen for months from men who have had a symptomatic Zika infection. Eight weeks pregnant, the 33-year-old English teacher wanted only to know that her unborn baby was safe from the devastating epidemic exploding across Latin America and the Caribbean.
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“In some ways it’s akin to passing out umbrellas in the advance of a potential hurricane, so an umbrella might come in handy, but it’s going to be insufficient to ensure that communities all across the country are protected from a potentially significant impact”, he said.
