Health Officials Are Investigating New Cases of Sexually Transmitted Zika Virus

Health officials have identified the first confirmed case of the Zika virus in MI. Photo credit: Popular Science ” We have made it a priority to stay ahead of the possible spread of this virus in Florida”, State Surgeon General John Armstrong said about Florida’s preparations before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions the same day the three new cases were confirmed. “But from the moment we protect against mosquito bites or from the time the mosquito is not présentn as the United States or in France, in these cases, it is very likely that sexual transmission takes precedence over vector transmission. and apparently this is what happens in the U.S. “, says Professor Eric Caumes.

While the Zika virus is spread primarily through mosquitoes, in rare cases it has been transmitted through blood transfusions and sexual contact.

State government health officers are travelling through the area around the hotel to alert pregnant women whose children may suffer birth defects if infected.

This is scary news considering the fact that Zika was previously only a threat to people traveling to high-risk areas (mostly in the Caribbean and Central and South America).

Georgia had its first case of travel-related Zika this month when an unidentified person returning from Colombia tested positive for exposure to the virus.

Health officials with the Angelina County and Cities Health District as well as their partners are preparing for the possibility of the fast-spreading Zika Virus. The new mom, who is only one of six known Mexican mothers-to-be to be infected with the virus during pregnancy, delivered her son in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico.

Zika has caused outbreaks in at least 29 countries in the Americas. Symptoms include fever, rash, pink eye (conjunctivitis), and joint aches.

Microcephaly is a neurological disorder that results in babies born with abnormally small heads, causing severe developmental issues and sometimes death.

For four additional suspected sexual transmission events, preliminary laboratory evidence is available for the women, but confirmatory tests are pending, it said.

Earlier, parliament heard that seven Queenslanders have the Zika virus, including a pregnant woman, who’d all contracted the mosquito-borne illness overseas.

“We do not know if infected men who never develop symptoms can have Zika virus in their semen”, or transmit the virus through sex, the CDC reports.

The best way to avoid getting Zika is to avoid mosquito bites.

On Feb. 1, the World Health Organization declared the virus and its link to the birth defects a public health emergency.