“So unless we’re doing a lot more work to prevent the disease in the high-risk areas, we could end up with an outbreak before we even know it”.
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Christopher Rogers, research associate for the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas, said that, right now, the state’s mosquito traps don’t target species that carry Zika because the traps are designed mostly to catch the kind of mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus. Pregnancy is not an issue. No details were given on that case.
There is not only growing evidence that Zika causes immune reactions leading to abnormally small heads in newborns – a condition known as microcephaly – but also to inflammation of the spinal chord and brain tissue, as well as impaired hearing and sight.
Other symptoms include pink eye, joint pain, muscle pain, pain behind the eye similar to a sinus infection, and an overall feeling of discomfort.
Dhaka/Seoul: Bangladesh confirmed on Tuesday its first case of the Zika virus in an old sample of blood from a 67-year old man who had not been overseas, health ministry officials said.
There is now no vaccine for the virus.
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At present, World Health Organization says more than 30 companies are working on, or have developed, potential new diagnostic tests. The findings were published in the journal on March 15. “That way we can avoid a local outbreak”.
They say he experienced Zika-related symptoms while traveling these past few months.
The WHO estimates Zika could eventually affect as many as 4 million people in the region.
“Poverty has been linked to a number of indicators of elevated exposure to mosquitoes such as lower usage rates of air conditioning and less efficient cooling options, poorer housing infrastructure such as screening of windows, as well as decreased access to safe water and sanitation”, the PLOS Currents study said.
Zika has also been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, an immune system disorder that can occasionally lead to a fatal form of paralysis. CDC director Jung Ki-suk said in a press briefing that the person does not need to be isolated from other patients but he remains hospitalized considering it is the first confirmed case.
Weekly trash removal, air conditioning and screened windows in the USA could help prevent the Zika virus from rapidly spreading.
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First discovered in Uganda in 1947, the Zika virus wasn’t thought to pose major health risks until previous year, when it became clear that it posed potentially devastating threats to pregnant women. If the virus continues to spread, however, scientists created a map to show which states will be impacted the most.
