The administration said on Thursday it had shifted $81 million in funds from other projects to continue work on developing vaccines to fight Zika in the absence of any funding from USA lawmakers.
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Money for the Zika vaccine research was to run out at the end of the month, USA Today reported.
Visitors are so central to the Florida economy that UF has an entire Tourism Crisis Management Initiative (TCMI) to study threats to the sun-and-sand-rental business.
Fauci singled out Puerto Rico and Florida as epicenters of the virus, which is carried mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito but also can be transmitted sexually from an infected partner. The TCMI spoke to 828 people.
It’s worth noting that the study doesn’t specify how many of those people are avoiding Miami.
As of Thursday, there have been 205 confirmed cases of travel-related Zika infections in Canada.
USA health authorities on Friday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico due to the outbreak of Zika, which has now infected more than 10,000 people.
Pregnant women concerned that they may have been exposed to the Zika virus can get tested for free at any public health department, including the Department of Health in Sarasota County. Almost 80 percent of people who catch the virus will show no symptoms, which includes: fever, rash, joint soreness, or redness of the eyes.
Pregnant women are particularly urged to protect themselves against Zika because it raises the risk of birth defects including microcephaly, in which infants are born with small heads and malformed brains. Approximately 80 percent of those infected never show symptoms of the disease while approximately 20 percent show only mild symptoms.
That was over twice as long as the 93 days after symptoms onset registered by a 27-year-old Frenchman whose case was highlighted in British medical journal The Lancet last month.
There is no vaccine or treatment for infection with Zika virus.
Among US states and territories, Puerto Rico is expected to see the worst of the Zika outbreak due to its tropical climate and a lack of infrastructure for mosquito control.
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The Ministry of Health said that while there were 352 suspected cases of Zika, symptoms of other mosquito borne viruses have been reported in every parish of the tri island state. Once a travel-related case is identified, public health officials and local mosquito control agencies are notified to take action to minimize the potential for local spread.
