Health Authorities Investigating Link Between Zika Virus And Paralyzing Syndrome

It also reported that the person infected is a 42-year-old woman with no history of previous travel during the incubation period of the virus.

This 2006 photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes aegypti mosquito in the process of acquiring a blood meal from a human host. In addition, Zika’s a relative of dengue, another virus spread by mosquitoes and very common in Brazil.

But pregnancy is often not a choice for women in the region, according to women’s rights campaigners.

The CDC recommends pregnant women consider postponing travel to the areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.

Local media said Saturday that the three cases are believed to be the first to be confirmed in the country, but no more details of their current conditions have been published. On Friday, the CDC expanded its alert to eight additional countries: Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.

Other Bay Area women have also been tested for the Zika virus, and probably more will be tested as the overseas outbreak continues, according to at least one Bay Area infectious disease specialist.

“The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites”. Symptoms, if present, include mild fever, rash (mostly maculo-papular), headaches, arthralgia, myalgia, asthenia, and non-purulent conjunctivitis, occurring about two to seven days after the mosquito vector bite.

The CDC added several countries to the list pregnant women should avoid in travels.

Health officials in NY said the three patients had recently returned from countries were the virus is prevalent, and that one had already recovered.

What is the Zika virus?

Meanwhile, authorities in Brazil are even considering introducing genetically engineered mosquitoes to help them combat Zika’s spread.

“The problem is in South America because women who are pregnant at the time of infection have given birth with microcephaly, which is a severe deformity and has severe consequences”.

The World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization warned in a report on Monday that they had found multiple cases across the globe where people were reported to have the syndrome shortly after contracting the Zika virus.

However, mosquito bites and mother to unborn baby aren’t the only ways this virus is transmitted.