NYC baby born with Zika-related problems

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health said the state has 19 new travel-related cases.

If the cases are confirmed, they will be the first instance of people becoming infected with Zika virus by a mosquito bite within the continental United States. Since then, researchers have found the virus can cause a devastating birth defect, called microcephaly, in babies born to women who were infected with the virus during pregnancy.

According to the CDC, there is one known case in Montana. The baby has other brain problems as well.

For example, babies born without a functional sucking reflex may never develop the ability to swallow and will need to be fed through a feeding tube.

“This is a public health threat”, said Dr. Murthy. Pregnant women are tallied separately at the statewide level because of the potential for birth defects. Your risk of getting Zika is still far greater if you or your partner travel to a country or USA territory with a Zika epidemic. There are now two possible cases of local transmission, one in Miami and the other at Broward County.

These latest developments have some saying Florida may have it’s first Zika outbreak. Florida health officials are collaborating with the CDC in both investigations. The CDC will also provide guidance about Zika infection for anyone living in the affected area.

That’s where mosquitoes capable of spreading the disease (Aedes aegypti) are most common.

“To date, approximately 200 people have been interviewed and tested as part of the department’s investigations and we await additional lab results”, the Florida’s health department said in a statement.

For now it is conjecture, but Polk County officials held a tabletop exercise earlier this month to simulate how a myriad of agencies will respond when a locally transmitted case emerges here.

Crews in Utah, meanwhile, are setting traps in old tires and junkyards and dumping mosquito-eating fish into ponds and abandoned pools after a man who cared for his dying father was infected with Zika as well.

“That’s basically the flying radius of the vector mosquitoes”, he said.

Ayres is referring to the fact that anti-Zika strategies generally revolve around targeting specific strains of infection-carrying mosquitos, so introducing a new strain would complicate matters.

The Obama administration is asking Congress for $1.9 billion to fund the fight against Zika, so far without success.