WA adult diagnosed with Zika virus

“It varies from airline to airline… but we are considering whether or not all flights from areas that have the Zika virus should be sprayed”.

A West Australian adult has been diagnosed with the Zika virus after recently returning from central America.

Fifty-eight percent of the people confirmed to have the virus on the island, Rius said, are women.

Zika, which is spread primarily by mosquitoes, has spread to 26 countries in North and South America, as well as parts of the Caribbean. The antibody test allows the state to see if individuals ever had the Zika virus.

Llittle is known about the link between the virus and a birth defect called microcephaly – something that CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said is a priority for national and global research.

All had traveled to Brazil and other places where mosquito bites have been linked to the infection and an increase in the number of children born with a congenital brain and skull condition. Officials in French Polynesia also documented a connection between Zika and neurological complications when the virus was spreading there two years ago, at the same time as dengue fever.

The first case of the virus being transmitted in the United States was reported this week – and the evidence indicates that it was spread to the victim through sexual contact.

The union’s members include workers who go door-to-door in Rio de Janeiro trying to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits Zika. All but one – in Texas – were travelers who caught the tropical illness overseas.

The CDC on January 22 posted interim guidelines for pregnant women, recommending all pregnant women consider postponing travel to areas where Zika is being transmitted.

WA chief health officer Professor Tarun Weeramanthri said there was no risk to West Australians who had not travelled to Zika-affected countries in recent months.

– The state of Florida has 12 cases of the Zika virus, all of them travel related.

State health officials say they’re increasing their efforts to monitor and identify potential Zika virus cases in Pennsylvania.