Zika virus is spread by by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which are not found in Michigan.
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The virus, except in rare cases, is harmless to adults, but US health officials confirmed last week for the first time that the virus caused babies to be born with an abnormally small head and other severe birth defects.
The Zika virus, which is typically transmitted through the bite of a mosquito, or sexual contact, can give adults the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome. While people who contract the disease usually experience fairly mild symptoms-fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis that can last from several days to a week-the illness can be devastating to the unborn fetus of a woman who develops the disease.
“It’s frightening me”, Lucey said of the virus overseas, which causes birth defects in the children of mothers who were infected during the first trimester of their pregnancies.
Establishing this causal relationship between Zika and fetal brain defects is an important step in driving additional prevention efforts, focusing research activities, and reinforcing the need for direct communication about the risks of zika.
Island Health officials recommended people take a number of precautions if considering travel to areas where the virus is spread by mosquitoes.
About 350 cases of Zika have been confirmed in the United States, including eight in Maryland. Men who have traveled to an area with Zika transmission and have pregnant partners should use condoms or avoid sex during the pregnancy, the CDC says. A locally-transmitted case would involve someone catching the disease from a bite from an infected mosquito that has bitten an infected person within the state. With microcephaly, a baby is born with a smaller than normal brain and head.
The CDC has listed information for pregnant women living in areas where Zika is active.
“This is a big issue for the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the Colombian Ministry of Health, but on the scale of things for Canadians, we’re a side show”, he said.
Startling new numbers are painting a disturbing picture of the spreading threat of the Zika virus.
The U.S. territories have reported 471 locally acquired Zika cases, a lot of them in Puerto Rico.
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Health officials in the US are bracing for what could potentially be a spike in cases in the U.S.as mosquito season gets underway. Most Democrats have said a supplemental bill, which can be considered immediately, is the better bet to provide funding to help Flint or combat Zika.
