CDC to award Indiana $766000 to help battle Zika virus

It also causes bad pregnancy outcomes, like miscarriage and stillbirth, and can cause serious neurologic problems as well.

Aside from mosquitoes, Zika can be spread through sexual contact in some cases, the CDC notes. “Family and friends will understand”. Meanwhile, Govenor Rick Scott has asked for assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Due to the alarming increase in Zika virus cases in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the virus as the latest global public health emergency in February.

The CDC has confirmed that the Zika virus is responsible for causing severe defects in unborn children, including microcephaly, which leaves babies with abnormally small heads and often with brains that do not develop properly.

The New York City Health Department said Friday that the mother was infected elsewhere, while in an area known for the disease. Pregnant women also should be tested upon return to the United States.

Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis and some muscle pain and a headache.

Up until now, scientists thought if a person became sick after being infected with the virus, it would only stay in the person’s blood for about a week. But Colombian health officials say the number of new infections in their country is falling by more than 600 a week, meaning that the virus has moved into an “endemic” phase in which it continues to circulate but is no longer spreading pervasively.

Because of that new data, the agency now recommends that the time frame for blood testing for Zika be lengthened to 14 days.

An estimated 80 percent of Zika infections do not display signs of illness. Men, who traveled to a country with Zika transmission and had Zika symptoms, should consider using condoms or not having sex for at least six months after the symptoms began. They declined to provide further details about the mother or child. The virus is prevalent in Latin America, particularly Brazil.

Brenda Falkenberg reached out to Factfinder 12 Thursday, concerned she and her daughter were not tested for the Zika virus. But since then, the number of reported cases each week has been dropping, and according to the most recent weekly survey, fewer than 1,000 cases were reported.