InquisitR: Zika virus has been confirmed in Hawaii by United States health officials on January 16, 2016. The first case of the mosquito-borne virus in a birth on U.S. soil came with a newborn baby suffering from brain damage at a hospital in Oahu.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner cautioned against assuming that the Zika virus was circulating around Hawaii. He stressed, however, that the imported disease could make the jump to local transmission.
“But I think it’s important for us to understand that there are going to be imported cases of Zika to the United States and we won’t be surprised if we start to see some local transmission of the virus.”
The Zika virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, has been found in nearly two dozen Latin American countries. The virus is suspected of causing birth defects. Health officials are concerned it could spread to the US and Canada.
CNN: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged pregnant women to postpone travel to Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Martin, Suriname, Samoa, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. The CDC also recommended that women who have recently traveled to these places during their pregnancy be screened and monitored for the virus.
That’s because the virus has been linked to an uptick in babies born with a neurological condition called microcephaly, which can cause abnormally small heads and serious, sometimes deadly, developmental delays.
The WHO attributed the virus’ rapid spread to the fact that people in the Americas lack immunity because they haven’t been exposed to it before.
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USAToday: A Minnesota woman has tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling to Central America, state health officials announced Wednesday.
About a dozen Americans in a handful of states have been diagnosed with Zika after visiting outbreak zones, but there is no evidence the virus, which is linked to an outbreak of birth defects in Brazil, is spreading in the USA. The virus doesn’t spread from person to person, like the flu. It’s spread by mosquitoes, like malaria and West Nile Virus.
The mosquito species that is known to spread Zika, the Aedes, doesn’t live in Minnesota, making it unlikely the disease will spread in that state.
The new case was diagnosed in a woman in her 60s from Anoka County, Minn., according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Her symptoms began Jan. 1, after she returned from Honduras. She was not hospitalized and is expected to make a full recovery, health officials said.
About 80% of people infected with Zika virus have no symptoms at all, according to the World Health Organization. Those who do become ill tend to have mild symptoms, including a low fever, rash, joint pain, headache and pink eye.
