Zika Virus Advisories Issued in Appalachian States

Fiocruz, as the foundation is informally known, said it made the discovery after carrying out a partial genome sequencing of the virus found in the samples from the two patients. Those who do should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites.

Officials in Medellin reported that a man and woman admitted from other areas died in the past week after showing symptoms of Guillain-Barre, which include muscle weakness and paralysis.

“The mosquito isn’t in our area so that’s a good thing”, said Sweeney.

USA health authorities recommended that men who have visited areas with the Zika virus use condoms if they have sex with pregnant women.

And this latest development will come as a huge blow to the organisers of the 2016 summer Olympic Games, set to be held in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Brazilian officials say they suspect Zika is behind a seemingly unusual number of microcephaly cases, in which children are born with unusually small heads.

Much about the virus, including whether it can be transmitted from person to person, remains unclear.

But Schaffner questioned whether either will lead to widespread transmission of Zika.

Procedures for blood donations have been tightened in the countries including Brazil to protect blood supplies from Zika.

Following word of the Texas case on Tuesday, U.S. health officials urged the use of condoms to prevent spreading sexually transmitted infections.

“People have already shown that it can spread to bodily fluids other than blood, so this isn’t entirely surprising”, he said. “For us scientists, it’s extremely challenging to understand Zika virus”.

At the center of the concern over Zika, until recently viewed as a mild illness, is the possibility that infection with Zika during pregnancy may cause microcephaly.

Zika, which was discovered in Africa in 1947, is in the news after more than 1.5 million cases were reported in Brazil in 2015. In this case, a man returning from Venezuela infected his female partner with the virus through intercourse. Even if their partner is not pregnant, they may want to consider taking such steps, the CDC said.

“As it develops and evolves and we learn more about it if there is more human to human that’s something that we’ll be talking further about”, said Sweeney.

Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a public health emergency on Wednesday in four counties with travel-related cases of the Zika virus.