Florida Zika Virus Cases Up By 2 In 1 Day

Despite an accumulation of strong evidence over the past few weeks, researchers may still need months to prove the relation between the Zika virus and micocephaly, World Health Organization also announced on Friday.

The businessman was in South Africa for four days when he went to see his doctor because of fever and rash, but now he is fully recovered, Motsoaledi said.

The businessman who visited Johannesburg has been diagnosed with Zika by a private Johannesburg pathology laboratory, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

So far, it’s been linked to a 20-fold increase in a rare defect called microcephaly in babies, in which the newborns are born with irregularly small heads and underdeveloped brains.

Zika virus is primarily transmitted through a mosquito bite, and there is no indication that it can spread from person to person through casual contact.

Preliminary results of the two case control studies conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Brazilian biomedical research centers in the northeastern states of Bahia and Paraiba should be ready “this spring”, said CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat. “Zika virus RNA has been identified in breast milk, but attempts to culture the virus have been unsuccessful”, the CDC report said. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Zika to be a public health emergency due to its possible ties to birth defects.

Since the first cases emerged last May in Brazil, there have been numerous infections reported in South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Only about one out of every five people infected actually becomes ill.

More than 3,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the Zika virus, the country’s president said. She says there have been some instances in the USA of a man traveling to the countries with Zika and then transmitting it after they have sex with their partner. Columbia was now experiencing a large outbreak of the Zika virus.

While the primary mosquitoes that carry Zika virus are not believed to be widespread in North Carolina, individuals are always encouraged, as a routine precaution, to take steps to prevent mosquito bites.

While that relation has not been proven scientifically Brazilian authorities coping with an unprecedented number of babies with microcephaly say they are sure Zika is the cause, because most cases of microcephaly have occurred in the poorer northeast of Brazil where the Zika outbreak has hit hardest.