Virginia resident who traveled abroad tests positive for Zika virus

Babies born with a smaller than normal head due to the brain not developing properly.

There may be a connection between the Zika virus and pregnant women.

The WHO’s Lindmeier said Tuesday that the United Nations agency plans a special session on the virus during a Geneva meeting of its executive board on Thursday.

A health worker stands in the Sambadrome as he sprays insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises there is a possible link between the Zika virus infection in pregnant women and subsequent birth defects, officials said.

“We are working together with local clinicians, public health authorities to develop surveillance at hospitals, maternity hospitals training people to do, to carry out investigations of this outbreak, ” says Dr. Ko.

In response to the threat, LATAM and United Airlines have announced they will waive change fees or offer refunds to travelers planning to go to destinations where Zika has been confirmed.

Australian Team Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller said she was in regular contact with team medical director David Hughes to ensure she has the latest information about the disease. Symptoms, however, appear in only about 20 percent of infected individuals, so women who aren’t symptomatic – even though they’ve been bitten by mosquitoes carrying the virus – may be infected as well. Mitigating mosquito breeding grounds, such as standing water, and spraying areas that typically attract mosquitoes, such as wetlands, also helps. However, a number of residents have contracted it while traveling and officials are concerned that it could spread if they are bitten by mosquitoes after returning home.

Doctors should ask women about any travel during their pregnancy and certain symptoms.

Brazil has the highest rate of infection, followed by Colombia. In the Caribbean, these are Barbados, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. Also, Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa; and Samoa in the South Pacific.

With no treatment available and no known cure, health experts said there are still many questions about the effects.

According to the ABC News report, the 18 cases were from eight different states and from people who had recently traveled to Central or South America. The species of mosquito that can transmit Zika is present in the San Gabriel Valley and the eastern part of the county. The VDH would not say whether the person is a man or a woman or where the person lives. In the poorer region of Pernambuco in the country’s north-east, between 1 and 2 per cent of newborns now have microcephaly.

“This warning is issued because the Zika infection is now in an expansion phase”, said Mr Luis Fernando Correa, head of the ministry’s Office of Emergency Management and Disaster.