US health officials have come up with an exception to their travel warnings for the Zika virus: altitude. A Louisville man who had recently been traveling in a Central American country tested positive for the virus, according to a press release from DPH.
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The latest case follows the ministry last month confirming that a male teenager in Kawasaki Prefecture, near Tokyo, had been infected with the virus also following a trip to Brazil.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in announcing the case Friday that the person had traveled to a country with “local Zika virus transmission”. The woman had developed flu-like symptoms and her doctor sent blood samples to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
“With the number of Zika outbreaks occurring in many parts of the world where West Virginians travel for vacation, business or mission work, the likelihood of a finding a Zika case in our state was foreseeable”. It can also be transmitted from a pregnant mother to her baby during pregnancy or around the time of birth.
The virus is not now known to be circulating in the mosquito population in Kentucky. Countries with areas of higher elevation include Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.
Use insect repellents containing an EPA-registered active ingredient on skin and clothing, including DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol or IS 3535.
The Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes, much like other tropical viruses, including dengue. Take steps to prevent sexual transmission with proper use of a condom. Most people affected will have symptoms that last for less than one week.
The man, who was traveling for mission work and returned in early February, is no longer exhibiting symptoms and has fully recovered, Gupta said.
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The new findings “provide a potential mechanism [for] how a Zika virus infection can lead to poor brain growth and, therefore, microcephaly”, said Dr. Sallie Permar, director of Duke University’s Laboratory of Neonatal Viral Pathogen Immunity, in Durham, N.C. The only cases that have been confirmed in the USA have been from travelers returning from other countries.
