Miami-Dade has the most Zika cases in the state with 36 people infected, according to the count kept by the Florida Department of Health.
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After two confirmed cases of Zika virus, Tennessee is on a list of states to be on high alert. Currently, health officials are split on whether they should tell American women to delay pregnancy in affected areas. There is also alarming evidence that the virus can cause the deadly brain ailments meningitis and encephalitis in people of all ages.
At a White House press event earlier this month, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued a new warning about the Zika virus.
A recent report determined the Zika Virus can be sexually-transmitted between men, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
With more diseases being linked to the Zika virus such as microcephaly, Guillain-Barré syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), WHO is prompted to launch more preventive measures to alleviate the spread of the Zika virus.
In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress to allocate more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to help combat the Zika virus.
PHMDC will continue to monitor this upcoming season for mosquito species that transmit diseases such as West Nile Virus, in addition to watching for the specific species that transmit Zika virus. Schuchat said there could be hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika virus in Puerto Rico and hundreds of babies could be affected by microcephaly. Experts say it’s particularly detrimental to pregnant women and their unborn children. Scattered infections had previously been reported in more than 100 people, mostly in travelers returning from countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean where the mosquito-borne virus is circulating. So we are a low-risk area.
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This news comes just days after the CDC confirmed Zika can cause severe fetal brain defects like microcephaly, in which a baby’s head is abnormally small. Dr. Lillibridge is an epidemiologist at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health.
