“What that has made us do is go back and redouble our efforts with prevention, education of the community and ensuring we’re ready in case there’s a case of local transmission here in Louisiana”, said Dr. Parham Jaberi.
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Or there may be no symptoms at all – according to the CDC, many people do not exhibit any signs of having the Zika virus at all.
She said this is an evolving situation, “and as scientists discover and report the latest on Zika, inclusive of its modes of transmission and risk associated with the disease, GCHD will modify its response accordingly”. The biggest concern, nevertheless, is the connection between Zika disease in pregnant women and brain damage in their own babies, including microcephaly, which leaves babies with other acute brain defects and abnormally small heads.
There is evidence that the virus can be passed through sexual transmission from men to women and men to men.
“Puerto Rico is in the midst of a Zika epidemic”. “This could lead to hundreds of infants being born with microcephaly or other birth defects in the coming year”.
The virus first started in Brazil and was mainly carried through mosquitoes.
It’s not unusual that no mosquitoes have tested positive for Zika, said C Roxanne Connelly, a medical entomology specialist at the University of Florida and a past president of the American Mosquito Control Association. “They’ve been going door-to-door to reduce standing water”.
She says during a recent outbreak in the African nation Senegal, scientists tested 11,000 mosquitoes but only found 31 bugs that tested positive for Zika.
“Women who are trying to have families, women with families, this is very important to them and for anyone who’s in the hospital”, Flanagan said. Additional cases are anticipated.
“As far as surveillance is concerned we have multiple systems in place both to identify people who may get infected as well as trapping and testing mosquitoes”, said Dr. Nelson.
Some Miami residents said Friday that they were stocking up on mosquito repellent and planning to bring lunches to work instead of sitting at outdoor cafe tables under the Wynwood neighborhood’s bright murals.
But that was before the governor revealed the first cases of Floridians getting Zika within their own state, in all probability from infected mosquitos.
There are now more than 1,600 confirmed Zika cases in the continental United States. Finding a live mosquito carrying Zika is akin to “finding a needle in a haystack”, Frieden said during the media briefing.
And now health agencies are recommending that pregnant women avoid travel to the Sunshine State.
Florida, a popular holiday destination for Britons, reported four cases of local transmission on Friday. “We supply about 90% of the blood supply here”.
The State Department of Health today also announced one more case of Zika in Louisiana.
Prior to these cases, fourteen infections were sexually transmitted, and one lab worker was stuck with a contaminated needle.
I have another prediction: Florida will not be the only state reporting locally-contracted Zika before the summer ends.
The White House said the cases should be a “wake-up call”. The infected people had not traveled to other Zika-affected areas, and did not have sex with Zika-infected partners, which leaves mosquitoes as the likely culprits.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on mosquito-borne diseases.
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This Q&A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.
