3 in Florida have Zika virus after visiting South America

“There is virtually no risk to IL residents since you can not contract Zika virus from another person, but only through the bite of an infected mosquito”, said Dr. Nirav Shah, the health department’s director, in a statement.

All of the Zika cases in the USA involve foreign travel. Although it was discovered in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 and is common in Africa and Asia, it did not begin spreading widely in the Western Hemisphere until last May, when an outbreak occurred in Brazil.

The guideline announcement came as two pregnant women in Illinois were reported on Tuesday to have contracted the disease, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Last week, CDC officials said pregnant women should consider postponing trips to 14 destinations – Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela.

Two pregnant women recently tested positive for the Zika virus in IL.

Symptoms include rashes, joint pain and fever for up to a week, although the CDC estimates that 80 percent of those infected by the virus have no symptoms.

There is no vaccine or medication to prevent or cure Zika virus infection, or to prevent microcephaly, prompting the agency to advise women take extreme precaution when traveling, or anywhere they could get bit by mosquitoes. To detect Zika, a blood or tissue sample from the first week in the infection must be sent to an advanced laboratory, so the virus can be detected through molecular testing.

“The likelihood of someone getting bitten, coming back home, getting bitten by a mosquito, a mosquito biting someone else, it obviously could happen but it’s maybe more likely in somewhere maybe like Florida”, said Schiffman.

The Zika virus is spread by the Aedes mosquito – the same one that carries other diseases that infect humans, including yellow fever, West Nile, chikungunya and dengue.

Pregnant women are advised to avoid travel to these areas. If Zika virus infection is possible, doctors should have their patients tested for Zika virus disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Symptoms usually clear up within a few days.

The Aedes mosquito is most likely to spread the virus, and is found in tropical climates including Florida.

– Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that has shown a strong link with fetal brain damage.

Dr. Denise Jamieson, a medical officer with the CDC division of reproductive medicine and an obstetrician, said prevention is what’s most important.

“This is a significant advance, but we still can not scientifically state that Zika is the cause of microcephaly”, said Jean Peron, an immunology expert who is experimenting on pregnant mice at the University of Sao Paulo’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences.