A new study is raising concern about human transmission of the Zika virus. The petition now has 165 signatures but needs 218 in order to force a vote.
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Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly – a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized – as well as other brain abnormalities.
“Most people are accustomed in taking precaution against sunburn and I think this disease is has reminded us that we live with the threat of mosquitos as well as the sun, so hopefully they’ll apply mosquito repellant right after their sunscreen”, Riggins said. Despite the growing number of Zika cases in NY and throughout the country, Congress left for summer recess without enacting bipartisan legislation to help fight the virus.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on Zika. Yet instead of passing emergency funding to combat and stop the spread of Zika, Congress went on vacation – forcing researchers to take money from Ebola to pay for Zika. “We need to consider whether people with Zika have infectious virus in their eyes and how long it actually persists”.
Researchers are considering alternative routes of transmission, as the virus is spreading more quickly than expected.
As research into the Zika virus rapidly advances, we’re learning there are a number of ways the virus may spread – possibly even through our tears. “I appreciate that Congressman Maloney is bringing attention to this important public health issue and seeking funding to study and combat it”.
“WHO recommends practicing safer sex or abstinence for a period of six months for men and women who are returning from areas of active transmission… to prevent Zika virus infection through sexual transmission”, the agency was quoted as saying in The Star (via an AFP report).
With more than 50 cases of locally transmitted Zika in the Miami area, US health officials are urging women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to take health precautions.
The connection between the virus and microcephaly first came to light in Brazil, which has been the hardest hit by the outbreak affecting Latin America. This team traps mosquitoes at designated locations throughout the county, identifies target species that are known vectors for the West Nile virus, and sends those specimens to the state health department to be tested for the presence of the virus.
A travel-related case is when someone travels to an area where the virus is already established and brought it back with them. The virus may have potentially traveled through the blood-retina barrier that separates the eye from the bloodstream, according to the study, or it may have gone into the brain and used the optic nerve that connects to the eye from there.
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Unlikely yet recognizable symptoms for non-pregnant infected people includes fever, headache, rash and conjunctivitis (red eyes).
