Three people test positive for Zika in New York: Authorities

Travel warnings about the Zika virus, especially for pregnant women, are very much in the news now, but the germ was discovered more than a half century ago, and you may have already visited places where it flourishes.

A team of scientists in South America are aiming to determine if there is any link between mosquito-borne Zika virus and a rare nerve condition that can cause paralysis and leave victims on life-support.

Around 1.5 million people in Brazil have been infected in just eight months and 14 countries across South and Central America, including Barbados and Mexico, have reported locally-acquired cases.

Zika first popped up in east Africa in 1952 and doesn’t even cause symptoms in 80 percent of people it infects.

Pregnant women are being warned not to travel to the Olympics in Brazil after a virus causing thousands of babies to be born with unusually small heads swept through the region.

There would only be a concern if the traveller was pregnant – including detailed ultrasound scans as the baby develops to check for microcephaly. Out of the information available, at least 12 of the patients had the Zika virus illness at least 15 days prior to getting the nerve disorder.

Only one in five people infected with Zika virus will get sick, with the most common symptoms being fever, rash, joint pain or pinkeye.

The alarming number of cases of microcephaly led health officials in Brazil to issue a warning to women in November 2015 to delay pregnancy.

It is believed that the virus may have arrived in Brazil when the country hosted the 2014 World Cup carried by visitors from French Polynesia, after an outbreak had occurred there.

The authorities repeated their call to pregnant women to take all the hygienic and precautionary measures to avoid contagion with the virus.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Three New Yorkers who had recently traveled outside the country, including one from Upstate, have tested positive for the mosquito-born Zika virus, state health officials said Friday. According to the CDC, the best way to prevent infection to avoid mosquito bites by using insect repellent, wearing long sleeves and trousers, and using screens and air-conditioners indoors.

This week, Brazilian disease specialists said more patients, who may have been infected with Zika virus, have been diagnosed this year with Guillain-Barré syndrome, the New York Times reported.