The Illinois Dept. of Public Health said Thursday that eight pregnant women are among the 46 confirmed Zika virus cases across the state WLS-TV Chicago is reporting.
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Two babies have been born with Zika virus-related defects in California, but neither of them were born in the Inland region, health officials said Thursday. Infants born to mothers with confirmed infections will be monitored for one year.
Health officials also said that five other pregnant women in IL are awaiting test results from the CDC to determine if they have Zika or Dengue fever.
The CDC recommends pregnant women avoid traveling to Zika-affected areas which include countries ranging from Mexico into the Caribbean, Central American and South America.
As the state of Florida begins to report cases of people contracting the Zika virus on U.S. soil, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is taking steps to protect Ohioans from the mosquito-borne illness. A total of 23 infections have been confirmed in pregnant women.
All four visited areas where Zika virus is being transmitted: Nicaragua, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. There are no known Zika-infected mosquitoes in Kentucky.
“We have a bunch of mosquito zappers at home, we also have a mosquito fogger, we have the mosquito magnet which has helped the most”, Humphrey says.
The mothers of the two babies were among 21 pregnant women in the state who contracted the virus while overseas in a country where the virus is spreading. They declined to say whether any of the women were pregnant.
The babies born with birth defects, including microcephaly, due to maternal Zika infection do not pose a public health risk to their communities, health officials said.
Florida yesterday began aerial spraying to kill mosquitoes in a Miami neighborhood with the first United States spread of the Zika virus.
Zika is most commonly spread by tropical Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
A travel advisory for pregnant women to a one square mile area in Miami, however, still stands.
Most infected people have mild symptoms or none at all and recover from the symptoms in about a week.
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Scott said even though this is good news, they are still aggressively spraying for mosquitoes and testing residents.
