Cincinnati registers its first case of the Zika virus

Some health professionals have lobbied to postpone the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and-and less commonly-through sexual intercourse. “For this reason, many people might not realize they have been infected”, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In Florida, governor Rick Scott used emergency powers to authorize $26.2m in funding to combat mosquitos and prevent the spread of the virus.

Riverside County public health officials said Tuesday the man from southwest Riverside County likely became infected while in the Dominican Republic, a country dealing with Zika-infected mosquitoes.

As the number of Zika cases rises worldwide, each new study about the virus gets a little more urgent.

No locally acquired cases of Zika have been reported, according to the department.

“I’m afraid the more we learn the nastier the Zika virus is”, Schaffner told ABC News. Researchers at the University released a study today detailing how research at the facility has found the Zika virus persisted in the blood of pregnant monkeys for 30 to 70 days but only around 7 days in others. Scientist Matthew Aliota explained, “The first site of replication for arboviruses is the mosquito midgut”.

As Zika continues to spread, presenting an impending threat of coming to the USA, initiatives like this are important as they mean progress in the efforts to stop the transmission of the virus. Almost 1,000 people who have been infected with the virus are now living in the US, while 246 of those cases have been found in Florida this year. Additionally, the researchers learned that a relatively low percentage of Zika-virus-transmitting mosquitoes may be sufficient to sustain an outbreak.

Zika can be transmitted sexually or through the bites of infected mosquitoes. “So, the mosquitoes in the US will only become infected if they feed on a person with an active Zika infection”.

So far, 39 countries and territories in the Americas have developed outbreaks of the Zika epidemic, with projections of at least four million people infected by the end of 2016. “It is important to know these details because it can help us develop better controlling measures”. “However, Republicans continue to hijack the process by attaching partisan political measures-most recently related to Planned Parenthood and the confederate flag-that ultimately put pregnant women and children at risk of unsafe birth defects”. It is still unknown exactly what human cells are affected by the virus, if livestock are affected by the virus, what other transmission mechanisms are possible and when a vaccine may be available.