Zika virus: Could it come to the United States?
Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said, “Because Zika virus is primarily transmitted by infected mosquitos, there is very limited chance of local transmission in NY during the winter”.
“The level of alarm is extremely high”, World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan told executive board members at a meeting in Geneva.
The county Health and Human Services Agency said two cases of the virus have occurred in San Diego County – one in July 2014, a traveler who returned from the Cook Islands, and the other last July in someone who visited Christmas Island.
She stressed that as of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the region.
He says the only known way the virus is passed is through mosquito bites.
Federal health officials have posted Zika travel notices about countries in Central and South America and in the Caribbean.
In an interview, Tracee Treadwell, who is helping to lead the CDC’s Zika response, said, “We always involve OB-GYNS and pediatricians”.
The WHO said the pathogen could infect as many as three to four million people within 12 months.
“If a female partner is at risk of getting pregnant, or is already pregnant, condom use is advised for a male traveller for 28 days after his return from a Zika transmission area if he had no symptoms of unexplained fever and rash”, it said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising pregnant women to avoid traveling to countries where the virus is present because there are concerns it may be linked to severe birth defects.
Right now, federal officials aren’t overly concerned about a widespread Zika outbreak in the U.S. But UW-Madison researchers are studying the virus and a potential threat in our area.
“‘Brazil has seen a lot of Zika virus since 2015, and there were some reports that they noted some birth defects called microcephaly, a birth defect where the head is smaller than expected or smaller than normal”, Foo said.
Schuchat stressed that most people aren’t in any serious danger from Zika, which is carried by mosquitoes.
Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General, WHO, also warned that the virus could spread to other places wherever there is Aedes mosquitoes.