Posted on 08/19/2016 10:22:18 AM PDT by SandRat
Health officials have confirmed three travel-associated cases of Zika virus discovered in Cochise County earlier this month.
Two county residents tested positive for the virus two weeks ago, and a third person tested positive days later, on Aug. 8. All three individuals had recently traveled to Puerto Rico, which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports has 7,855 locally-acquired cases of the virus.
“None of these people (in Cochise County) are pregnant or are able to be pregnant,” said Elizabeth Lueck, Cochise County’s public health emergency preparedness program director. She said she could not confirm all three individuals are male, citing privacy laws.
All 24 of Arizona’s confirmed Zika virus cases — five men and 19 women — are travel-associated, according to the state’s Department of Health Services. A DHS press release explains that the virus “can be transmitted by several Aedes species mosquitoes, and Arizona is home to one of these — Aedes aegypti.” A mosquito can become infected with the virus after biting an infected person, then transfer the disease to another person.
“All three (in Cochise County) have recovered, but it’s still questionable overall how long a person is able to infect a mosquito after they recover,” Lueck said. “It’s thought after their symptoms go down that they’re no longer able to give it to a mosquito. What we do know is that we have these three travelers, we have the right mosquito, just like the rest of the state of Arizona, so we’ve counseled them to stay indoors in order to avoid mosquito bites and hope it works for us.”
The CDC has Puerto Rico on a Level 2 alert, warning travelers to “practice enhanced precautions” when visiting. That’s one step below the Level 3 alert to “avoid nonessential travel.” On Aug. 13, the U.S. government declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico as a result of the Zika outbreak.
“They were staying at a household in Puerto Rico that had known cases of Zika in the household,” Lueck said. “There are travel restrictions nationwide, to 38 different countries, and we can’t stop people from traveling, for work, pleasure or whatever. The warnings are out there. I haven’t talked to any returning travelers who were unaware.”
The three individuals “experienced different degrees of being ill,” Lueck said, adding that all three visited the same local medical facility to seek treatment after symptoms began to emerge.
“One was kept for a while in facility, and all were counseled diligently about the precautions they should take in the next 21 days,” she said. “We can’t quarantine them to their houses, but they were counseled, told how serious it was, and we explained we’re trying to protect unborn children and those who are pregnant.”
Ray Falkenberg, public information officer for Cochise County Health and Social Services, explained that 80 percent of people infected with Zika are asymptomatic, which is one of the many challenges associated with the virus.
Lueck stressed taking precautions against mosquito bites by using repellents, covering up with long sleeves and pants, avoiding mosquitos and helping to eliminate breeding spots.
“We have incoming travelers on a regular basis that may be bringing more cases into our county,” she said. “We’ve alerted our healthcare partners, to be aware of the symptomatology and the right questions to ask.”
I have family that live in the stronghold I was hoping to visit next year. I sure hope they can keep this contained or my wife will be too nervous to let the kids go.
Zika is the most overrated virus around. It was first discovered in 1947 and treatment for it is the same for a cold or mild flu. The links to microcaphaly tenuous at best with zero cases of microcephaly being reported prior to 2014. What did change in 2014 is massive use of pesticides to attempt at mosquito control in the Amazon and the release of genetically modified mosquitoes there. Guess where else they are spraying pesticides and introducing GM mosquitos. South Florida.
How do you explain Zika virus infecting the placenta (which should act as a barrier to protect the unborn), which has now been proven.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/08/18/study-sheds-light-on-how-zika-infects-placenta.html
Why has the numbers of microcephaly suddenly spiked? Zika has been known for 70 years and until recently it caused nothing more than a mild illness.
Zika has been around for a while in a local of Africa. Suddenly it is going worldwide and being associated to neurological problems. A few possibilities exist that I can think of.
Could it be it was innocuous within a population that had adapted to it? Even this article says that most people don’t have signs. If those most susceptible to the virus were already weeded out then it would seem like nothing worse than a cold or flu.
Alternatively could it be spreading farther because it has picked up a mutation that makes it more communicable and or more dangerous? Every few years we get a new variant of the flu that is deadly to a portion of the population, like H1N1 5 or 6 years ago.
In any case in the absence of good information it will be hard to convince the wife to let me take the family into a Zika infested area unless of course there is an outbreak of it here.
I don’t know anything about these GM modified mosquitos you mentioned. As far as I know the GM mosquitoes were still a hypothetical mentioned as a way to control mosquitoes in response to Zika. And we’ve been spraying mosquito pesticides for decades, though unfortunately not DDT which was the most effective.
“Why has the numbers of microcephaly suddenly spiked? Zika has been known for 70 years and until recently it caused nothing more than a mild illness.”
Perhaps the “spike” you speak of is simply due to an observer bias.
2500 babies with microcephaly is more than just “observer bias”. Typically microcephaly occurs in about 2 to 12 per 10,000 live births.
“2500 babies with microcephaly is more than just “observer bias”. Typically microcephaly occurs in about 2 to 12 per 10,000 live births.”
Observer bias w.r.t. your notion that “zika has always been mild”. Here are the facts: first, Zika had not affected at this scale. And, second, due to the impact of the first, Zika related effects had never been studied.
Now, Zika is infecting a large number of people and is being closely monitored, previously “mild” virus is now deemed dangerous to pregnant women. Well, not as dangerous as abortionists, but that is for another day.
In 1900 and 1906 we were taught how to win this WAR.
In 1959 we were given a new weapon to use in this war.
Care to cite who the Lead warriors were and what the new weapon was.
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