Pa. investigating 6-8 potential Zika virus cases

The National Health Institute said the authorities had recorded 20,297 cases of Zika infections, with about 10 per cent occurring in pregnant women.

While there are no confirmed cases of Zika virus in Pennsylvania, the state Health Department says it’s investigating 6 to 8 cases.

The Zika virus is transmitted through mosquito bites, and can cause fever, a rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis, or red eyes.

The patient is isolated in a medical center and has already received all the medical attention necessary, noted Velasquez.

While Aedes mosquitoes are present in several European countries, especially in the Mediterranean area, the current climatic conditions are not suitable for their activity.

Ontarians visiting affected areas should protect themselves against Zika virus by taking individual protective measures to prevent mosquito bites, including using insect repellent, protective clothing, mosquito nets, screened doors and windows.

The officials said the number of pregnant women confirmed to have the zika virus has shot up to about 1900.

The Zika virus was first discovered in Africa in 1947.

The “Aedes aegypti” mosquito thrives in warm climates and reproduce in stagnant water. The 32 cases, now in the United States, are among people who traveled. That isn’t the case for Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Martin, Samoa, Suriname, and Venezuela where outbreaks are reported now.

It is entirely reasonable to be concerned about what the World Health Organization is calling the “explosive” spread of Zika virus across the Americas. And it wasn’t until November that a Rio de Janeiro laboratory made a link between the virus and microcephaly, which can lead to abnormally small brains in developing babies.

The CDC has said that Zika is not expected to pose as much of a threat to the U.S.as it has to Brazil and other countries in the region.

“For the sake of caution, travel warnings shouldn’t be confined to Brazil and elsewhere in South America, but should apply to all countries where mosquitoes are a problem”, he said.