A Rockland woman who recently traveled to South America has been diagnosed with the Zika virus, officials said Friday.
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According to the CDC, there has been concern that Zika virus may be transferred from pregnant women to their unborn children, and that the virus may cause microcephaly.
– Men who reside in or have traveled to an area of active Zika virus transmission who are concerned about sexual transmission of Zika virus might consider abstaining from sexual activity or using condoms consistently and correctly during sex.
On Friday, the World Health Organization said in a report that infections from local transmission of the Zika virus have been reported in least 33 nations, requiring an global response as the disease continues to spread.
More research will be needed to determine what role, if any, the presence of the virus in saliva plays in the spread of the Zika virus, the scientists said.
As explained by the CDC, most people infected with Zika virus will not develop symptoms. However, 80 percent of those who contract the virus don’t show symptoms, according to the Health Advisory from West Virginia’s Bureau for Public Health. You can try to do this by using insect repellant, wearing long-sleeved shirts and trousers, and emptying standing water – pretty much the same precautions you’re given to protect yourself from West Nile or any other mosquito-transmitted virus. It doesn’t recommend that men without symptoms be tested for the virus.
Mr Gadelha said the discovery need not alter Carnival plans for anyone but pregnant women.
“But we also have in this part of NY state, in the Hudson Valley, including in Rockland, the cousin of the mosquito called the Aedes albopictus, it’s the tiger mosquito”, said Dr. Patricia Ruppert, the Rockland County commissioner of health. The CDC is advising pregnant women to avoid infected countries and to use mosquito spray. The timing has fuelled strong suspicions that Zika is causing the birth defect. Microcephaly is a lifelong condition in which a baby’s head is significantly smaller than normal. In addition, the revised guidelines address testing for women who reside in areas where Zika is spreading.
“Our labs are literally working around the clock to get more test kits available”, Frieden said.
“But that does not mean there is a capacity for transmission through saliva and urine”, he added.
In Britain, the National Health Service Blood and Transplant agency has said that from Thursday, anyone returning from Zika-affected countries would be made to wait 28 days before being allowed to donate blood. Meanwhile, officials in Texas have reported the first case of the virus contracted in the United States, saying it was sexually transmitted. But experts are puzzled why it is almost non-existent in other Latin American countries where the Zika virus is present.
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Brazil’s government may decide to revise a law next week that restricts the country’s ability to send medical samples overseas, and does not clearly define protocol when a public health emergency, like Zika, is involved.
