A Salt Lake County resident has died after getting the Zika virus, according to the Salt Lake County Health Department. “Due to health privacy laws, health officials will not release further details about the individual or the individual’s travel history”, the Salt Lake County Health Department said on its website.
Advertisement
There is now no threat of Zika infection from mosquitoes in the area, local Mosquito experts say. An elderly Utah women infected with Zika has died. Dr. Ari Faraji, manager of the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District released a statement. If the number of people infected gets worse, the state may ask health departments to test local mosquitoes for the presence of the Zika virus.
Her exact cause of death is unknown, but she did test positive for the virus.
The Florida Department of Health has a robust mosquito-borne illness surveillance system and is working closely with the CDC, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and local county mosquito control boards to ensure that the proper precautions are being taken to protect Florida residents and visitors.
Since then, “the more we’ve learned, the bigger the problem seems”, said University of Utah pediatric infectious diseases chief Dr. Andrew Pavia. But during recent outbreaks in Latin America, scientists discovered that infection during pregnancy has led to severe brain-related birth defects.
While the individual contracted the virus elsewhere, there is limited risk that Zika will spread in the area.
More than 1,000 Americans from the continental USA have contracted the disease – which is most often accompanied by only mild symptoms – while traveling, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
According to reports by the CDC, a 70-year-old Puerto Rican man died from complications of the virus in February. Summer, proponents of the bill say, is a time when mosquitoes proliferate. For most people, Zika isn’t much of a threat.
As of July 6, the CDC has documented 1,132 cases of Zika virus related to travel in the continental U.S, including 285 cases in New York State.
Advertisement
“It is really hard to mount an all-hands-on-deck response to a new infection when you have to steal money from one program and count pennies and recycle syringes”, Pavia said.
