Florida governor declares health emergency in 4 counties over Zika

– The Zika Virus is causing a scare in Florida, with the Governor declaring a health emergency in four counties.

The CDC, in a statement to CNN, said it confirmed the test results showing Zika present in the blood of a “non-traveler in the continental United States”, stressing that there was no risk to a developing fetus in this instance.

“This is something we really don’t know much about”, she said.

Lee, Hillsborough, and Santa Rosa counties are also affected by the warning.

Iowa Department of Public Health Medical Director Dr. Pat Quinlisk said pregnant woman and woman who plan to be pregnant are at the highest risk. Doctors in Latin America have linked it to a serious birth defect.

This is not the first time that scientists have suspected that the Zika virus may be spread through sexual intercourse.

But health officials in Texas reported on Tuesday that a person in Dallas became infected after having sex with another person who had travelled in Venezuela, where the virus is circulating. The person infected did not travel to the South American country, county health officials said.

The virus is typically spread through mosquito bites but health officials found one case in Texas where the disease was transmitted through sexual intercourse. The illness is primarily spread through mosquito bites, but investigators have been exploring the possibility it could be sexually transmitted. According to the CDC, the symptoms of Zika are mild and include a fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes, although one in five people who are infected with the virus don’t have any symptoms.

The World Health Organization declared a global emergency this week, but health officials are unclear how significant the threat is to Oklahoma.

The mosquito behind the Zika virus seems to operate like a heat-driven missile of disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still testing specimens from several other Georgia residents who traveled to areas with Zika outbreaks.

The US travel alert is expanded to 30 travel destinations, now including Jamaica and pregnant women are being advised to postpone trips to those destinations.

A number of drug developers are trying to produce a vaccine to combat the virus. but experts say that would take months or years to develop.

Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem Inc. posted a message on Twitter cautioning travelers headed to the Caribbean to heed the CDC’s warnings about Zika virus, and Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. has published updates related to the virus on its website.