It’s news health officials have been expecting, and dreading: Reports of the first Zika cases on continental USA soil that appear to have no link to travel.
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More than 400 pregnant women in the continental United States have evidence of Zika virus infection, and 12 infants have been born with birth defects linked to Zika infections in their mothers, officials have said.
Within the US, your threat of acquiring Zika locally is minimal, but higher if you live in south Florida, south Texas, Louisiana and Hawaii, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News.
The good news is, there have been no Zika cases transmitted by mosquitoes in CT.
City health officials said the case was a reminder for pregnant women of the potential effects of the virus.
The White House on Wednesday released a statement saying President Barack Obama had spoken to Florida Governor Rick Scott regarding a suspected case of mosquito transmission of Zika and promised more money to fight the virus.
If confirmed, the two cases – one reported in Broward County on Thursday and one in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday – would be the first locally acquired cases of the virus in the continental United States.
The first case of the Zika virus in the city was reported on March 3, followed by a second case reported on April 22. “Just because they don’t find Zika in an Aedes mosquito doesn’t mean there is no [local] transmission”.
In a well-kept neighborhood in Miami with lush gardens, Larry Smart, a county mosquito control inspector, holds a turkey baster up to the light. While there’s now no threat of contracting the virus while in Utah, experts say that doesn’t mean it’s not coming.
“We’re constantly in the area”.
Fogging trucks drove through the patient’s neighborhood Thursday.
Of the 2,000 pregnant women the Health Department has tested for Zika after traveling overseas, 41 were confirmed as having Zika, city officials announced Wednesday.
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Zika is usually spread by mosquitoes and health officials have known for some time that men can spread it through sex. It is also critical to use barrier protection (male and female condoms, dental dams, etc.) when having sex with someone who traveled to an area with active transmission. Test results on the mosquitoes trapped in Utah are expected within days, Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District manager Ary Faraji said.
