Zika may linger in semen long after symptoms fade, doctors’ report

The PCST’s findings have been echoed by a separate report on the Zika outbreak by the Brazilian doctors’ and public health researchers’ organization, Abrasco, which condemns the strategy of chemical control of Zika-carrying mosquitoes.

The frontline of defense is stopping the Zika virus before it get’s imported by folks traveling from central and south America.

On Feb. 10 a third woman tested positive for the virus, following her return from the Honduras. Imagine the relief that person, said Clarice Arns, researcher at Unicamp’s Institute of Biology.

The cases of severe birth defects previously reported in Brazil form 2001 to 2011 were on an average 163 per year.

Brazil’s health ministry issued fresh figures on Friday, reporting 4,314 suspected and confirmed cases of microcephaly, up from 4,074 cases on February 2.

All of the Florida cases so far have been reported as travel-associated.

Castro, who will be traveling to the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia to oversee the “Zero Zika” campaign there, called on his compatriots to join the battle to eliminate Zika.

It’s an illness caused by a mosquito-borne virus similar to those that cause west nile virus infections.

“We are very concerned, this is a pattern we have never seen before”, Powers said. “But this time we’re obligated to prevail because the mosquito has become much more unsafe”.

Kieny said USA government scientists and an Indian biotechnology company were now frontrunners in vaccine development, although it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of candidate shots.

“We have a few more weeks to be sure to demonstrate causality, but the link between Zika and Guillain-Barre is highly probable”, Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation, told a news briefing. Babies born with the birth defect have smaller heads and brains that aren’t fully developed, which can result in life-long developmental problems.

During Saturday’s nationwide prevention drive, 220,000 troops accompanied by mosquito control teams plan to hand out pamphlets on how to prevent the spread of the virus.

Brazil is set to host the Olympics in August in Rio de Janeiro, an event expected to draw hundreds of thousands of athletes, officials and spectators.

The State Department also is working to accommodate pregnant women at diplomatic missions in areas where there is active transmission of the virus.

“We feel confident that we can respond, we have the medical community, we have what we need here to really deal with any situation that may happen”, Thompson said.