Florida reports five additional Zika cases, one in a pregnant women

A woman who traveled to Colombia and returned to the US late last month tested positive for the virus.

According to Reuters, a health ministry report confirms that most cases of Zika in Mexico are centralized around the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.

“Advisory has also been issued that pregnant women who have travelled to areas with Zika virus transmission should mention about their travel during pregnancy check-up visits in order to be assessed and monitored appropriately at the health facility”, he said.

Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly. There have been several dozen cases of the mosquito-spread virus reported in the United States, most in travelers returning from affected countries.

On Feb. 27, France said it had detected its first sexually transmitted case of Zika in a woman whose partner had traveled to Brazil.

Caution should be taken on the link as data remains scarce and questions over the type of Zika virus in the current outbreak remain unanswered, University of Western Australia Professor of Biomedical engineering David Smith said in a statement. The woman was pregnant at the time she had symptoms of the Zika virus, but the health district added after she gave birth to her child the baby tested negative for the virus.

What is the history of the Zika virus?

Another health official told AFP the woman had classic signs of Zika virus infection and was not hospitalized. In any trimester, they should consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus is spreading. For those who do, symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes and tend to be mild. The list of affected countries is growing, so check the CDC website for up-to-date information on travel recommendations.

No vaccine or medications are available to prevent or treat Zika infections.

But PAHO said the virus usually circulates in the blood of an infected person for five days or less.

What other complications are associated with Zika?

Despite some reports of a potential association between Zika virus, microcephaly and other neurological disorders, at this stage, it is not possible to establish a causal relationship between these events. During an outbreak of Zika from 2013-14 in French Polynesia, national health authorities reported an unusual increase in Guillain-Barre syndrome.

“This means the chances of a disease being established in the mosquito that transmits dengue and Zika is low”.