Zika Cases Reported In Dade, Hillsborough County

Earlier this year, the Hawaii Department of Health issued a statement that the CDC confirmed that the Zika virus was found in a baby recently born with microcephaly on Oahu, the island that’s home to Honolulu.

They are Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Surinam and Venezuela.

Pregnant women also should be tested for Zika virus if they have traveled to an area with Zika virus transmission and they have an ultrasound that shows microcephaly, a birth defect in which the baby’s head is abnormally small.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say doctors should ask pregnant patients about their travel and certain symptoms, and – if warranted – test them for Zika.

Yesterday, the Brazilian city of Piracicaba said it would expand the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to fight Aedes aegypti, the species that spreads dengue and chikungunya as well as the Zika virus. “Neither the baby nor the mother are infectious, and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii”.

On Friday, the CDC issued a travel warning for 14 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America where infection with Zika is a risk. “This case further emphasizes the importance of the CDC travel recommendations released [Friday]”.

There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika virus infection.

Humans contract Zika through the bite of an infected mosquito, much like the more well-known West Nile virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Mosquitoes can carry serious diseases, as we know too well with our current dengue outbreak, and it is imperative that we all Fight the Bite by reducing mosquito breeding areas, avoiding places with mosquitoes, and applying repellent as needed”.

Pregnant women who test positive should consider scheduling regular ultrasounds to monitor the growth of their fetus. It can last up to a week, often times only a couple of days.

Genetically modified mosquitoes could help Brazil combat the Zika virus, tests results released Tuesday by a British biotech firm suggest. More information about Zika virus can be found on the CDC website.

“We now have an accumulating number of cases in babies from miscarriage or who were born with microcephaly with evidence of Zika”, Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC division of vector-borne disease told CNN last week.

On Monday, Haitian health officials confirmed that the Zika virus, which was first discovered in Uganda in 1947, was present in the Caribbean country.