Florida health officials said that four patients in Florida infected with the Zika virus were infected in the Wynwood area. PHE has said the risk in the southern U.S. state was moderate, while in many countries in South America, including Olympics host Brazil, it was high.
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A total of 53 Brits have already been treated for being Zika positive.
Zika causes only a mild illness in most people.
Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said everyone, including pregnant women, doctors and public officials need to take the virus seriously that is responsible for causing many birth defects in babies. In Brazil, where the virus has flourished, over 1,700 babies with microcephaly have been born to mothers infected with Zika.
Dr. Lyle Petersen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained the cycle of infection to the Associated Press, saying it “starts with a person infected with Zika-presumably a traveler who recently returned home with the virus still lurking in his or her bloodstream”, at which point a mosquito in the United States bites that person, gets Zika from their blood, and then “spreads the virus by biting someone else”. Florida is taking an aggressive approach. We will continue to put every resource available to fight in the spread of Zika in our state.
So far health authorities seem confident the problem is under control, enough that they have not told pregnant women to avoid South Florida, Miami, or even the Wynwood area. Florida and other states have successfully fought off outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya in recent years.
Its director, Tom Frieden, said: “All the evidence we have seen indicates that this is mosquito-borne transmission that occurred several weeks ago”.
Millions more women are feared to be at risk because of the virus.
Florida governor Rick Scott said the state believed active transmission of the virus was occurring within an area of the city 2.6 square kms in size.
How can Canadians protect themselves? These cases include 15 believed to be the result of sexual transmission and one that was the result of a laboratory exposure. One of these cases involves a woman and the other three cases involve men.
The Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. Public Health England is monitoring the global situation closely and the risk to the United Kingdom remains unchanged. Although a risky outbreak in the middle of summer can cause worry and distress for travelers and residents of the Sunshine State, it’s comforting that health experts around the world are working tirelessly to spread awareness in hopes to prevent further cases of Zika as they continue to research more ways to halt any future outbreaks.
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Zika, which often comes with no symptoms, is very unsafe for pregnant women.
