“It just hadn’t been observed until recently”.
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“We must declare war on the mosquito and until we have a vaccine against the Zika virus, that war must focus our efforts on eliminating its breeding grounds”, Rousseff said on her Twitter page.
The reason women who are thinking about getting pregnant need to take precautions is because scientists don’t know if Zika remains in the body after blood tests indicate the active virus has disappeared. “That’s a hard decision”, Pavia said.
While airlines have yet to report a bookings drop because of Zika, a warning from the World Health Organization that 4 million people in the Americas could get the virus has exacerbated jitters for the travel industry, hurt by outbreaks of SARS and Ebola in years past.
WHO’s Chan said a direct, causal relationship between the Zika virus and such birth defects has not yet been firmly established, but it is strongly suspected. “But then as I heard more in the media about it, then it kind of is more concerning than I had initially thought”. But she is anxious she could spread the virus to her two grandchildren, who live with her.
According to the CDC, the Zika virus is now in more than 20 countries, transmitted by the same mosquito that spreads other tropical illnesses such as dengue and yellow fever.
The minister also announced the start of a national action plan against zika, dengue and chikungunya in 590 community health units across the country. He said some were detected years ago in a shipment of bamboo from China. Most are showing mild symptoms.
“Will we see local transmission? It could be cranked to very high levels in a really short time”.
US researchers have blasted the World Health Organization for what they say has been a slow response, and some pressed the worldwide organization to declare a public health emergency before the mosquito-borne virus becomes an “explosive pandemic”. There is no proven vaccine or treatment.
On Wednesday, a hospital in Denmark said a tourist who had traveled to South and Central America has tested positive for the incurable disease.
“When women are desperate… they will seek out their own solutions”, said Carmen Barroso, Western Hemisphere director for the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
However, if the virus is transmitted to pregnant women, it can lead to the death of babies in the wombs, or babies’ heads are abnormally small, it said. “But increasing lines of evidence suggest that some women who are infected with Zika during their pregnancy may go on to deliver a baby with a serious brain injury”.
In the United States, if there’s concern that a pregnant woman may have been infected by Zika while traveling overseas, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is recommending ultrasound exams every three to four weeks to evaluate the fetus.
Airlines offering some form of travel refund include United, American, Delta, JetBlue and Spirit.
“It’s important with all of this to remember that these are early days of understanding a disease that has been relatively unstudied”, Pavia said. “We know of cases in the Houston areas that are travelers and some in Chiapas and deep in South Mexico and Central America from homegrown mosquitoes”.
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For further information on Zika, visit CDC Frequently Asked Questions.
