First Zika virus case confirmed in Los Angeles County

The U.N. health agency announced plans to hold a “special session” in Geneva on Thursday to brief member states about Zika on the sidelines of a WHO executive board meeting, reflecting a virus that has fanned increasing concern through the Americas and beyond.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention warned pregnant women to avoid travel to 14 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean affected by the virus.

US health officials confirmed Tuesday that a man in Virginia had tested positive for the virus, but added there was no risk of it spreading to others because it is not mosquito season there.

Some countries have issued alerts warning pregnant women not to travel to Zika-affected regions. “It has milder symptoms than dengue or chikungunya or yellow fever”.

Apuzzio: Women concerned that they might have contracted the Zika virus should immediately visit their obstetrical care providers, who will evaluate them and determine if blood testing is necessary.

There is no known antidote to the virus.

The Brazilian government sent 200,000 plus forces to go battle the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits Zika virus.

Three Britons who travelled to South America have also been infected, health officials said last week.

Zika has grabbed worldwide attention recently because of an alarming connection between the virus and microcephaly, a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads that cause severe developmental issues and sometimes death. Jamaica has not reported any confirmed cases of Zika, but the health ministry has recommended women delay becoming pregnant for the next six to 12 months. Though efforts are being made by both the government and its people, for many, the damage from the Zika virus have already been done. It has now spread across 25 countries.

Spread by the Aedes mosquitoes, which can be found throughout these regions, the virus is particularly potent because the “population of the Americas had not previously been exposed to Zika and therefore lacks immunity”, according to a World Health Organization statement released Sunday.

According to CDC, the Zika virus is now being locally transmitted in Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Suriname, Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela.

There is still much to learn about Zika infections, experts said. But there’s been mounting evidence linking Zika infection in pregnant women to a birth defect in which a newborn’s head is unusually small and the brain may not develop properly.

The situation has not abated since May 2015 when it was first detected in Brazil.

Zika has been linked to mental defects at birth in thousands of children in Brazil.

Individuals can protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellents, and wearing long sleeves and long trousers – especially during daylight, when the mosquitoes tend to be most active, health officials say.