Brazil links 3 deaths to suspected Zika-related complications

Feb 14, 2016, 13:23

A pregnant woman in Australia has tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling overseas - the second such case this week, health officials said Friday.

In the meantime, the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised women on how to protect themselves from Zika, particularly if pregnant, but also reassured them that most women in areas affected by the mosquito-borne virus will give birth to "normal infants".

There have been about 50 cases of the mosquito-spread virus reported in the United States, most in travelers returning from affected countries. Scientists say the hotter it gets, the better the mosquito that carries Zika virus is at transmitting a variety of risky illnesses.

Microcephaly, as well as miscarriages, are believed to be occurring in mothers infected with the Zika virus, health officials have said, though the link between the virus and the birth defects has not yet been confirmed.

OH has also reported a case in a Cleveland woman, who also recently returned from Haiti.

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Although symptoms associated with Zika are generally mild, a possible association has been observed between the unusual rise of Zika cases and microcephaly cases in Brazil since 2015.

The discovery of viral particles and a high load of Zika virus RNA in the brain samples, coupled with the absence of other possible pathogens, and a complete viral genome present "strong evidence" of the Zika virus' potential for causing birth defects, Avsic Zupanc said in an email. Some 48 percent said Zika had not changed the likelihood of their visiting those destinations, while others did not know. Only 14 cases of human Zika disease had been documented prior to 2007, and all of them were in Africa and Asia, according to an article on the Yap Island upsurge published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009.

All in all the current evidence is pretty clear: Zika shouldn't be the primary factor holding Solo (or any non-pregnant athlete for that matter) back from the #RoadToRio.

"If they're seriously ill, we would check it", Irwin said.

The White House's $1.8 billion funding request followed a WHO emergency declaration last week that the Zika virus is now a global health threat, based on the suspicion that the virus may be to blame for the thousands of birth defects in Brazil in the past year. Although the infection does not cause any symptoms or permanent damage, the biggest problem is the fear of infection by pregnant women and the possibility of deformation of the brains of fetuses. "What we know is the vast majority of spread is going to be from mosquitoes", Frieden said.

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And the CDC is recommending that pregnant women avoid the regions of Central and South America and the Caribbean, where Zika virus has been identified and officials have described it as spreading "explosively".

If someone is actively infected, the CDC has a test that diagnoses Zika fairly well.

The U.S. Olympic Committee will hire two infectious disease specialists to advise potential Olympians who are anxious about the Zika outbreak in Brazil.

Can women transmit Zika virus to their fetuses during pregnancy or childbirth?

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