According to the World Health Organization the Zika Virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Colombia reported more than 6,000 pregnant women have tested positive for the virus, while in the United States, one baby in Hawaii was born with Zika-linked microcephaly after his mother returned from Brazil.
Advertisement
The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and red, itchy eyes.
The woman had not been pregnant, the health minister pointed out, and both people had been treated as outpatients. Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong announced the cases in his daily Zika update as part of an ongoing effort to keep Florida residents and visitors “safe and aware about the status of the Zika virus”.
There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection.
“Finding a way to make mosquitoes resistant to the Zika virus could effectively interrupt the viral transmission cycle”, Franz said.
The study focuses on one 20-year-old pregnant Brazilian woman who had a stillborn baby in January.
According to the health agency, all 14 case involve men visiting countries where outbreaks are particularly and may have spread the virus to their sex partners after arriving home as mentioned in a report by Reuters.
Health officials with the Angelina County and Cities Health District as well as their partners are preparing for the possibility of the fast-spreading Zika Virus.
Zika has been declared a global emergency because of its links to a spike in babies born with abnormally small heads in Brazil and an increase in cases of a rare syndrome that can cause paralysis.
Rick Scott has asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 250 additional Zika tests.
In recent weeks, doctors have found that the virus also can be transmitted through sexual intercourse with an infected person. Franz said his success generating stable resistance to the Dengue virus in mosquitoes could help him tackle the Zika virus.
Officials didn’t say in which counties the women live.
Advertisement
The U.S. CDC said on February 23 it was investigating 14 new reports of possible transmission, in addition to a previous case in Texas.
