Now That Zika Is the World’s Latest STD, Should You Be Worried?

Governor Rick Scott announced a state of emergency in four counties, Miami-Dade, Lee, Hillsborough, and Santa Rosa on Wednesday. Guzenhauser said the health department’s focus remains on mosquitoes as the main way people are becoming infected.

On Tuesday, the American Red Cross urged prospective donors who have visited Zika outbreak zones to wait at least 28 days before giving blood, but said the risk of transmitting the virus through blood donations was “extremely” low in the continental United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus‎ transmission.

“They pick up the virus from a human who is infected, it grows inside the mosquito, and the next time it lays more eggs it passes on that virus to the next person”, said Townsend.

The virus is typically spread through mosquito bites but health officials found one case in Texas where the disease was transmitted through sexual intercourse.

Mr. Scott’s directive gives the Health Department additional power in coordinating a response to Zika and directs the state’s environmental unit to cooperate with the Agricultural Department in coming with a mosquito control plan.

“The infection often occurs without symptoms but it can cause a mild illness which can include fever, headache, rash, joint and muscle pain, and conjunctivitis”.

Pregnant women, or women who wish to get pregnant, are also being advised to carefully consider the risks of travel to a Zika-affected country.

The best way to do that right now is for those women to avoid Zika-infested areas.

There’s no vaccine, no treatment and no cure. The mosquito is a vector for the proliferation of the Zika virus now spreading throughout Latin America. “The patient was infected with the virus after having sexual contact with an ill individual who returned from a country where Zika virus is present” this year, a Dallas County statement read.

On Monday, the World Health Organization warned that an outbreak of Zika in Central and South America was a “public health emergency of global concern”. “We still think Zika virus is only likely to be a significant problem for pregnant women”.

Some travelers to areas with ongoing Zika virus transmission will become infected while traveling but will not become sick until they return home.