Mosquito spraying is underway in a Miami neighborhood where the first locally transmitted cases of Zika virus in the USA were found. The CDC has warned pregnant women not to travel to a Miami neighborhood where Zika has been actively transmitted.
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“This is a sobering reminder, however, for Californians that Zika can cause serious harm to a developing fetus”, she said.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, only 1 in 5 people show symptoms of Zika, and mosquitoes could be biting them, possibly passing the disease along without detection.
It’s pretty scary to think about, but scientists know for sure that a pregnant woman who is infected with Zika can pass it on to her unborn baby – the problem is, they don’t know exactly how it happens.
And, the vaccine is mostly a concern for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, since the effects of the virus are nil to mild on most everyone else.
Officials with the Department of Health wouldn’t say exactly where the case was reported but in one neighborhood, residents said they received letters from health officials.
Economics, climate, environment and population all likely contributed to Brazil’s Zika outbreak, Singh and other public health experts said.
One baby born in the state to a woman infected in Haiti has been diagnosed with the birth defect microcephaly, a condition defined by small head size that can lead to developmental problems.
State health officials are investigating one case from outside of the affected Wynwood district.
Women’s health clinics are on “the leading edge of addressing this epidemic, educating women and protecting women and their babies”, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. But that doesn’t mean people should abandon all precautions, Schwartz noted.
But infectious disease doctor Aileen Marty of Florida International University said any health hazards to humans are highly unlikely.
The spraying Thursday morning spread pesticides not just over the area where cases of locally-transmitted Zika have been reported, but also across a buffer zone.
Zika is most commonly spread by tropical Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Blood donors are usually thoroughly screened, including with questions about places they’ve traveled in the past year – and that would have to include places like Brazil, French Polynesia and, well, Miami. There have been no reported cases of Zika virus contracted from a mosquito bite in Missouri. Of those, 24 are from LosAngeles County, which reports the highest number of any jurisdiction in the state.
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“We’re going to beat this”, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said.
