Despite ramped-up efforts to find a vaccine for the Zika virus, the World Health Organization said on Friday that it will still take over a year before the vaccines can be tested.
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“Given the number of travelers between OH and Zika virus-affected countries, it would not be a surprise to see more cases”, said ODH Medical Director Dr. Mary DiOrio in a news release.
County Executive Ed Mangano said Nassau has one confirmed case of the virus in a resident who traveled to an area outside the US where Zika transmission has been documented.
“In the babies from Brazil whose mothers had Zika infections during their pregnancy, the observed degree of microcephaly has been severe”, University of Utah pediatrician and birth defect specialist Dr. John Carey said.
The ministry said Brazilian researchers found the virus in the body of a 20-year-old woman in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, who died last April from respiratory problems.
Kirkland said the best advice for pregnant women is to avoid traveling to Zika infected sites throughout their term to avoid any complications.
An outbreak of Zika in Tahiti bolsters concerns about the link between the virus and birth defects, Freedman said.
“I would suggest that all women who are in that age group and are going down there to travel, don’t”, says Bhargava.
There is now no cure or vaccine for Zika.
At present, doctors have relied mostly on costly genetic tests to find traces of the virus in some patients, but those tests, known as PCR, are not widely available and are limited to when a patient is actively showing symptoms.
The WHO declared the suspected consequences of Zika infection – microcephaly and GBS – a public health emergency of worldwide concern on February 1, on the advice of a panel of outside experts.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that there are no locally acquired vector-borne case in the United States, according to cdc.gov/zika, although there are nine cases in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Adewole said, “In late 2014, Brazil detected a cluster of febrile rash illness related to Zika virus in its Northeast region (Bahia) that was subsequently associated with the Zika virus in April 2015.
We don’t know completely what range will be covered across the Americas, and we’re not certain about the efficacy of control methods of mosquitos or of personal protection”, Dye said.
The viral infection has been linked with babies born with underdeveloped brains.
CDC officials confirmed to ABC News that the women who miscarried were being monitored by their doctors after they were diagnosed with the Zika virus.
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This week, a crew traveled to Puerto Rico and another crew will head to Brazil Saturday, the epicenter of the Zika virus.
