Doctors urged to check pregnant women for Zika at each visit

The virus is primarily transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can also be spread through sexual contact.

Many people travel during the summer, whether to visit family and friends, to take a vacation, or for business.

Florida has been monitoring pregnant women with evidence of Zika regardless of symptoms since January.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says numbers vary.

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.

Zika has been proven to cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to serious developmental problems, and has been linked to other severe fetal brain abnormalities.

The new case highlights that people returning from areas where Zika is non-endemic, such as Thailand, can also be infected, said the report authored by health specialists from Toulouse in southern France.

In response, the city’s health department has launched a campaign reminding women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant and their partners to delay travel to Zika-affected areas.

There have now been 12 confirmed cases of babies born with Zika-related microcephaly in America, and more than 400 pregnant woman in the continental US have evidence of Zika infection.

His symptoms included a full-body rash, fever, and conjunctivitis (red eyes).

Although Zika infection is largely mild, with most people having no symptoms, it is known to cause microcephaly.

“If he is uncertain that he can follow this advice, he should consider not traveling”.

“Expanding the use of the Zika-specific test could provide more women with Zika virus infection a definite diagnosis and help direct medical evaluation and care”, CDC said.

The mother is reported to have contracted Zika while in Latin America.

In its research, Tatem’s team projected the spread of Zika by assessing its likely impact at very local levels – a scale of five kilometers squared – and combined this local data to model regional infection rates. 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.