“It would be extremely beneficial to remind people that the best defense against mosquitoes is to eliminate standing water”, Bailey said, referring to one of several stratagems for controlling the spread of the virus, which has been running rampant through the state this year.
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Health officials expect an outbreak of Zika somewhere in Texas, carried by local mosquitoes. It’s unknown whether the mother had a miscarriage or an abortion, the Post said.
One of the major health concerns is that some mothers who had Zika while pregnant have also given birth to babies with serious brain birth defects.
Federal health officials today said they believe “thousands” of people may have contracted the Zika virus before returning to the U.S.as they remain concerned that the virus might start to have ongoing transmission in the U.S.
In the United States, the virus is expected to become active in at least some southern coastal states this summer, as it typically passes from person to person via the bite of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, USA health officials have said.
“History has told us this is a really hard mosquito to deal with”, said Fauci, adding that a mosquito-based outbreak is far different from an outbreak that spreads from person to person. According to Obama, there have been at least 500 cases of Zika in the continental United States so far and over 800 in Puerto Rico, where the virus has already claimed its first fatality. Up to 80 percent of adults who contract it show no symptoms, and most of the others suffer only a fever, rash and headache. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, recently announced that 279 pregnant women in the United States and USA territories have tested positive for the Zika virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are monitoring almost 300 pregnant women who tested positive for the Zika virus. There have been more than 1,400 human cases statewide. The proposed strategy is “also aligned with other key WHO global health strategies and plans, including those for sexual and reproductive health” and “makes a strong case for expanding the provision of good quality sexually transmitted infection prevention and care more widely into the areas of primary health care, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV services”.
A health agent uses a new test kit that rapidly diagnoses three different mosquito-borne viruses in Sao Paulo, Brazil, January 18, 2016.
“I think it will broaden our horizons on what’s going on with it and we can get prepared for what’s going to come in the future for Zika virus”, said Mijdah Adilyar of the DHS emergency preparedness division.
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US President Barack Obama has criticized Congress for refusing to back his request for a US$1.9 billion fund to combat the spreading Zika virus.
