This includes six confirmed cases from Kentucky and 16 from Ohio. The findings “provide a window on how concern about Zika virus infection may have affected the lives of pregnant women in Latin America”, according to the researchers. The paper also found that the increase comes from countries which have issued alerts on the Zika virus, such as El Salvador, Ecuador, Brazil or Costa Rica.
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The origin of this finding is a precedent study of French and British teams, identified antibodies capable of neutralizing the four types of dengue virus, said in a statement released by CNRS.
“It seems as though as though women were responding not only to the threat of Zika but to the advisories issued by their governments”, says Aiken. Doctors in Latin-American communities have found themselves providing pregnant women with the abortion pill after they have contracted the Zika virus, which is against the law.
The researchers analyzed information requests from affected countries before and after the virus began spreading, as well as comparing those to countries where Zika hasn’t been documented. The best people can do is to avoid the bites of infected Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are the main transmitters of the Zika virus.
“Travelers returning to the US from an area with active Zika transmission should take steps to prevent mosquito bites for three weeks”, said Paul Grunenwald, communicable disease manager with the department.
Reports have indicated that, as early as February, Brazil has experienced a surge in interest in illegal abortions in women who may have been exposed to the Zika virus.
Other molecules were also under investigation, it said, for potential disease-specific, Zika-dedicated vaccines.
Both Fonseca and Furtado believe that Zika may cause eye problems – both conjunctivitis and the more severe uveitis – because the virus affects the central nervous system.
It’s especially important for pregnant women to protect themselves because Zika has been linked to severe birth defects called microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 820 cases of Zika in the U.S.as of Wednesday.
Common symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes).People can minimize their exposure to mosquitoes by wearing long-sleeved shirts and trousers, using bug repellant, avoiding peak feeding times at dusk and dawn, and draining standing water from their yards.
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“We now need to investigate whether the phenomenon of ADE may aid transfer of Zika across the placenta”, explained Dr. Juthathip Mongkolsapaya, co-author from the Department of Medicine at Imperial. A Zika outbreak can be enhanced by Dengue antibodies via a process known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). The illness is usually mild and only one of every five people who contract Zika actually get sick, according to the CDC. “If there’s any hazard of acquiring Zika sexually or via mosquito pregnancy prevention is first and foremost way to prevent it from occurring”.
