All pregnant moms should be tested for Zika virus — CDC

Zika infection during pregnancy can cause babies to be born with unusually small heads, called microcephaly.

Severe microcephaly can involve brain damage.

Health officials are warning pregnant women to avoid traveling to a small area in southern Florida, where the risky virus has been spreading.

Scott said Florida has allocated more than $26 million in state resources to combat Zika and it’s aggressively funding items to be prepared. And in one of the two cases, the new mother has returned with her affected infant to her unnamed home country. The other woman and infant are still in California and “are doing well”, Dr. Karen Smith, state health officer, said in a media teleconference Thursday.

Among the governor’s requests were an additional 10,000 Zika prevention kits for pregnant women and a detailed plan from President Barack Obama on how his administration wants Florida to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on requesting emergency response funds.

And, the vaccine is mostly a concern for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, since the effects of the virus are nil to mild on most everyone else.

Only one person has been found to have Zika in Riverside County.

“We continue learn more about this disease on a daily basis, leading to CDC guidelines being updated frequently”, said Nancy Furness, communicable disease director for the Snohomish Health District.

San Bernardino County has had six people test positive for Zika.

Another mosquito, Aedes Albopictus, may carry the virus, but is rare in our area.

If mosquitoes do spread Zika here, transmission is expected to be very limited, Smith said.

The virus circulates about seven days.

In both cases, the pregnant women had traveled to foreign countries where the virus is now more prevalent.

As of July 29, CDPH has confirmed 114 travel-associated Zika infections in 22 counties, with a total of 21 infections confirmed in pregnant women.

According to the CDC, 1,658 people in the continental USA and Hawaii have been diagnosed with Zika.