Health professionals and the CDC recommend that pregnant women cancel travel plans to affected areas while Zika outbreak warnings stand. Anyone planning to visit affected countries should take preventative measures against mosquito bites.
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According to Dennis Fugate, Industry Manager at Kline’s Agrochemicals/Specialty Pesticides practice, the increased awareness on the part of the public about the Zika virus will put added pressure on mosquito control professionals to do everything possible to control mosquito vectors in their districts.
Most people exposed to Zika, a tropical virus spread by mosquitoes, suffer only mild symptoms. The New Jersey Department of Health recently reported that a women who contracted the virus in Colombia became ill while visiting Bergen County in November. Historically, the disease has been seen in Africa, Southeast Asia and islands in the Pacific Ocean; however the virus has recently spread through much of the Caribbean, Central and South America.
It is believed to be the first known case of Zika virus in Chicago, officials said.
This 2006 photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes aegypti mosquito in the process of acquiring a blood meal from a human host. There have been reports of a serious birth defect of the brain called microcephaly in babies of mothers who had Zika virus while pregnant.
Wear long-sleeved shirts and long trousers when going outside.
Symptoms including fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis can last from several days to weeks and there is no vaccine to prevent or treat an infection.
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Pennsylvania has had four Zika cases, according to the state Department of Health.
