State confirms 3 SC residents tested for Zika virus

Health department spokesman Matthew Lipani told Patch Thursday the infected person lives in the northwestern part of Virginia and recently returned from traveling in Central America. And even though many booked these vacations before news of the Zika virus broke, they’re not cancelling in droves, travel agents say. “That’s how I found out”, she said with a laugh.

Brazil is one of the main areas of concern, where local transmission was first reported in May of 2015.

“Only about 20 to 25 per cent of people infected with the virus develop symptoms, which can include fever, headache, conjunctivitis or pink eye, rash and joint or muscle pain”.

Women are being advised to not get pregnant and to avoid infested areas if pregnant, since the virus is strongly suspected of causing babies to be born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains. The sample would be sent to the Department of Health, who would pass it to the CDC for screening, Robinson said. The WHO could potentially mitigate some of the concerns by spraying insecticides and reducing standing water, which will help control mosquito breeding. “It will be worse than the Thalidomide generation because then the cause could be withdrawn from the market”, she said. So a company called Oxitec tried a different approach: genetically modifying male mosquitoes, which in turn seek out female mosquitoes and mate with them, resulting in no offspring – and eventually, a sizeably smaller mosquito population, if all goes well.

Still, the government advises pregnant women to postpone or cancel travel to countries with the virus.

The statement said that the World Health Organization and NHS had not recommended any travel or worldwide trade restrictions. “More research is still needed on transmission and effects of this disease”. As far as mosquito-born illnesses are concerned, experts argue that other illnesses such as the West Nile virus and EEE are bigger concerns for people living in the U.S.

“The Zika virus is a mosquito – borne virus”, said Dr. Shelly Aleprast of St. Johns Hospital. Test kits for the virus are only effective in the first week of infection and only available at private clinics at a cost of 900 reais, more than the monthly minimum wage.

“The most important thing that pregnant women can do is prevent mosquito bits when they’re in these countries”, said Hall about the best way pregnant women can protect themselves from getting sick.

Gray said her coaches have banned her from going swimming in Brazil during her short stay.

“We need to look at historical successes to embark on similar programs in Zika-affected countries”, said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

“This is really new”, he said. Also cataracts. You never see a baby with cataracts.

Zika is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads dengue fever and the chikungunya virus.