Florida health officials say there have been at least 25 local Zika infections.
Advertisement
Rebecca Gilman said it is Canada’s second case of maternal-to-fetal transmission of the virus, which has been linked to serious birth defects that include microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains to mothers who were infected while pregnant.
Some charities also hand out mosquito repellent. Two reports published Thursday in Eurosurvellance detail cases of men who showed Zika RNA in their semen 181 and 188 days, respectively, after the onset of their symptoms.
The public health emergency declaration is a tool for the federal government to provide fresh support to Puerto Rico’s government to tackle the outbreak and grants access to certain federal funds. The last time Health and Human Services declared such an emergency was following Superstorm Sandy, which affected a significant portion of the East Coast in 2012.
The declaration will give Puerto Rico more money to fight the outbreak. It allows Puerto Rico to apply for funding to hire and train unemployed workers to assist in mosquito control efforts, as well as for outreach and education efforts. Puerto Rico also will now be able to request the temporary reassignment of local public health department or agency personnel who are funded through Public Health Service Act.
Although Zika is normally a mild illness, causing no symptoms in 80% of patients, 90 people have been hospitalized due to the virus and 30 have developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, which develops when the immune system attacks the body’s nerves, causing paralysis. The administration said on Thursday it had shifted $US81 million in funds from other projects to continue work on developing vaccines to fight Zika in the absence of any funding from USA lawmakers.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, still advises pregnant women to avoid the entire neighborhood.
Zika has spread rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean region since 2015.
University of Toronto professor of medicine and infectious disease expert Jay Keystone said he isn’t surprised to see more cases of Zika emerging, but the problem is much worse in countries dealing with mosquito-borne transmission of the virus, such as Brazil.
The virus continues to spread in various regions across the world.
Advertisement
The Republican legislation also would siphon off unused money under Obama’s signature 2010 healthcare law to combat Zika.
