CDC widens Zika virus guidelines for pregnant women

I know it’s been a rough few days for you, what with outrage over your suggestion that all sexually active women who aren’t using birth control should stop drinking and the news that an American contracted the Zika virus on US soil through sex, but I’m honestly a little anxious about you. The country’s National Health Institute director, Martha Lucia Ospina, said all three victims were confirmed to have been infected with Zika.

In addition, another Zika-infected traveler – someone in Florida, who recently had been to Central America – has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a CDC official said.

Also, on Tuesday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Dallas Health Department confirmed that someone got infected by intercourse with another who had traveled in a Zika-infected country.

The main method of infection is via mosquito bites, but scientists are investigating all other possibilities.

The WHO said that between January 2014 and February 5, 2016, a total of 33 countries have reported indigenous circulation of Zika virus.

He said that risk for developing Zika depends on how long a person was in the area where Zika is present, how many mosquitoes are active in that area, how many mosquito bites they had and how well they protected themselves.

It is now telling men who have been to areas with outbreaks of the Zika virus to consistently use condoms during sex with pregnant women.

USA health officials issued guidelines Friday to prevent the sexual transmission of the Zika virus, telling men who have been to outbreak areas to use condoms during sex with pregnant women.

Friday’s announcement coincided with the start of Carnival, a five-day bacchanalia that sees millions of people take part in alcohol-fueled parties where kissing as many people as possible is a top pastime. The CDC’s priority, he said, is to protect pregnant women.

Though presence of the Zika virus has been identified in 17 cases of babies with microcephaly, as the condition is known, there is no solid proof that the virus causes it. Babies with microcephaly have abnormally small heads and often have underdeveloped brains.

Those precautions should also be considered by couples who may be starting a family if the man has potentially been exposed to the virus.

Though the virus has been connected with birth defects in Brazil, in adults the symptoms, if any appear, are often mild and short-lived: rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis and slight fever.

There is no vaccine for Zika virus.

Pregnant women experiencing symptoms should be immediately tested, and those not, are recommended to when they begin prenatal care, the CDC said.

They said more research was needed to determine whether Zika could be transmitted by either fluid.

“The bottom line for most people in the U.S.is that pregnant women should postpone travel to Zika-affected areas”. Frieden says CDC is working with scientists in Brazil and elsewhere to find out.