She encouraged people returning from Brazil to be “conscious and cautious” about their potential exposure to the virus.
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If a pregnant woman is infected with Zika, she faces a higher risk of bearing an infant with brain deformities, a condition known as microcephaly.
However, the American health authorities predicted that more cases could take place in Florida in general as the peak mosquito season arrives.
The spread of Zika occurs primarily though infected Aedes mosquitoes, specifically the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which have not been found in Santa Barbara County, said Dr. Charity Dean, Santa Barbara County Health Officer.
“This is no cause for alarm, but there are some simple tips the Australian Government has developed to help identify symptoms of the virus and minimise its transmission”. Zika can be spread via sexual transmission.
Most of the people who got ill were infected while traveling outside of the US.
State health leaders are trying to raise public awareness of Zika virus after a person tested positive for the virus this week in Bulloch County.
If Zika can impact an animal that is not naturally susceptible to this degree, say the researchers, there is reason to worry that Zika “introduced into the human vagina is likely to replicate more robustly than in the vaginal cavity of wild-type mice”.
The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported that in addition to the locally transmitted cases, there are 534 travel-related cases of Zika in the state.
Two new cases were also reported in Alachua, bringing the total in each county to eight. “Until we can narrow down with great precision the neighborhoods infected, we have to assume every pregnant woman is at risk in Pinellas and Hillsborough until you can say it’s a specific neighborhood”, he said. But at a roundtable discussion about the virus in Miami, Gov. Rick Scott assured local leaders they would start getting accurate information in a timely manner. They are all considered travel-related cases but one was sexually transmitted.
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What’s more, in the pregnant mice, the virus spreads from the genitals to infect the fetal brain, causing reduced fetal weight gain and impaired development. A woman reported typical signs of a Zika infection 16 days after she had unprotected sex with her male partner, who had recently returned from the Dominican Republic, an area of active Zika transmission.
