Finally, the counties shaded in red are the areas that are most likely to see Zika-carrying mosquitoes, as they reported the A. However, a spike in Brazil in cases of a birth defect called microcephaly, in which a baby’s head is smaller than it should be, raised alarm that the virus might be risky for pregnant women and their fetuses. West Nile can be carried by indigenous mosquitos, though the virus is not very common in Iowa. Other people traveling to these areas should take great care to prevent mosquito bites.
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It is hard to believe a mere year ago, few people in the US had ever heard of Zika, even though the virus has been known for more than 70 years. There have been no confirmed cases of transmission by a local mosquito bite anywhere in the continental U.S. Pregnancy is not a factor in any of the five DE cases.
The CDC’s rapid-response teams are made up of experts who can help monitor the cases, perform lab tests on infected individuals and increase mosquito control initiatives along with local and state authorities. That person is now showing symptoms of the virus. “The whole idea is to disrupt the life cycle, so if you even do this every five days, you are still interrupting the stage from egg to adult mosquito”, he says.
For the first time in the Western Hemisphere, researchers have detected the Zika virus in Aedes Albopictus, the mosquito species known as the “Asian tiger”, a finding that increases the number of USA states potentially at risk for transmission of the disease.
Those afflicted with the virus may experience fever, rash, join pain, and conjunctivitis. If you traveled to an area with active Zika virus transmission up to eight weeks before your pregnancy was confirmed, discuss your travel history with your doctor. There is now no treatment or cure available for microcephaly.
The symptoms later subsided and she returned to work last Monday. But Dr. Nielsen said the findings on the possible effects of Zika in the third trimester were similar in both studies. The virus is transmitted by mosquitos and through sex. The virus can not be spread person-to-person unless a pregnant woman contracts it and passes it to the unborn child. A majority of the women who contracted Zika in the first or second trimester were still pregnant at the time of the report in early April.
My colleagues and I in Congress are working diligently to ensure adequate funding is allocated to the research and development of preventative measures, treatments, and ultimately a cure for Zika. The bills fall far short of the $1.9 billion President Obama requested in February. They’re already on high alert for Zika.
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Frankly, there’s no time to waste if we want to protect the most vulnerable. “It simply reinforces the message that taking mosquito bite prevention steps while overseas is very important”. “We have a narrow window of opportunity to scale up Zika prevention measures, and that window is closing”.
