CDC: Potentially Zika-Carrying Mosquitoes Could Inhabit All But 10 States This Summer

[rangerrebew]

CDC: Potentially Zika-Carrying Mosquitoes Could Inhabit All But 10 States This Summer

(CNSNews.com) – The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated a report last week illustrating on U.S. maps [1] that the two mosquitoes with the potential to transmit the Zika virus, as well as other viruses such as dengue and chikungunya, could inhabit areas this summer that include parts of all but ten states in the United States.

The report on Zika and pregnancy [2] also states: “Mosquitoes are the deadliest animals in the world because of the diseases they spread.”

Much of U.S. territory--from California to Virginia to Maine--is in the potential range of the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which have the potential to transmit the Zika virus. Of the two, the CDC says, the Aedes aegypti mosquitos are the “more likely to spread viruses.”

The CDC also verified to CNSNews.com via email that the map of potential exposure includes all but 10 states in the United States [1].

[3]

Only Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, and Utah are outside the potential range of both of these mosquitoes.The highlighted areas of the map, the CDC stressed, “represent CDC’s best estimate of the current potential range” of the mosquitoes and “are not meant to represent risk for spread of the disease.” The maps have been updated from “a variety of sources.”

“These maps include areas where mosquitoes are or have been previously found as of 2016,” the CDC told CNSNews.com.

The CDC adds that the maps “are intended to help both mosquito-control professionals and the general public understand where these mosquitoes are found so that they can take steps to protect against mosquito bites, and possible infection with Zika or other mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and chikungunya.”

“CDC is not able to predict exactly when Zika virus will arrive in the continental United States or how much the Zika virus could spread if and when local mosquito-borne transmission is detected,” the CDC told CNSNews.com.

Mosquitoes qualify as the "deadliest animals in the world," the CDC told CNSnews.com, because they spread diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, [4] zika, and malaria.

In a Zika outbreak, the CDC reported, “people may not even know they are infected,” and “based on current knowledge, the greatest risk for complications from Zika is to a pregnant woman’s fetus,” as the disease “has been linked to cases of microcephaly, a serious birth defect, and is a sign that the baby is born with a smaller brain, which can result in medical problems and impaired development."

The report advises pregnant women to avoid travel to any area with Zika [2] and “prevent mosquito bites, including covering up arms and legs and using EPA-registered insect repellent, which is safe to use during pregnancy.”

It also advises women to “use latex condoms, the right way, every time or choose not to have any type of sex if the male partner has been in an area with Zika during the pregnancy.”

The CDC’s report also features an infographic on mosquito prevention recommending measures like eliminating “standing water inside and outside your home” and wearing “long-sleeved shirts and pants and treat clothing with permethrin.”
Source URL: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/lauretta-brown/cdc-warns-potentially-zika-carrying-mosquitoes-could-inhabit-all-10

[rangerrebew]

U.S. Health Officials Admit Zika Virus is 'Scarier Than We Initially Thought'

http://www.people.com/article/zika-scarier-cdc-first-realized?xid=rss-topheadlines&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+people%252Fheadlines+%2528PEOPLE.com%253A+Top+Headlines%2529


By Rose Minutaglio @RoseMinutaglio

04/11/2016 AT 10:15 PM EDT
The Zika virus is looking to be more complex – and more dangerous – the more health authorities learn about it.

At a White House press briefing on Monday, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, explained the Center's latest research into the widespread disease.

"Most of what we've learned is not reassuring. Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought," said Schuchat.



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There are 346 confirmed cases of Zika in the continental United States – 32 are in pregnant women and seven were sexually transmitted. All are present in people who had traveled to Zika-prone areas, reports USA Today.

"While we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the continental U.S., we need... to be ready for that," said Schuchat at the briefing.

The virus, which is linked to the microcephaly birth defect, can actually lead to a number of different conditions in babies, including premature birth and blindness.

U.S. Health Officials Admit Zika Virus is 'Scarier Than We Initially Thought'| Medical Conditions

Officials also announced that the mosquito carrier, the Aedes aegypti, is now present in a larger geographic region of the United States.

"Instead of about 12 states, where the mosquito is present, we believe about 30 states have the mosquito present," explained Schuchat.

U.S. Health Officials Admit Zika Virus is 'Scarier Than We Initially Thought'| Medical Conditions

A researcher examines Aedes aegypti mosquitos in Brazil

Getty

The CDC suspects that Zika is rapidly spreading in Puerto Rico, where there are hundreds of thousands of suspected cases – affecting countless babies.

On Wednesday, the CDC announced it is giving $3.9 million worth of emergency funding to the United States territory.

"This information is, of course, of concern," said Schuchat.

[mountaineer]

All we've heard about, it seems, is the effect on babies in utero, but it can affect adults:

Physicians Say Zika Could Cause Eye, Spine Problems
April 15, 2016 5:57 PM By Jon Delano
KDKA

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Zika virus is not just an issue for pregnant women any more.

“Now we’re understanding the full spectrum of this disease, and it’s much more serious than what we initially thought,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja on Friday.

At a taping of the KD-PG Sunday Edition show, hosted by KDKA money & politics editor Jon Delano and PG associate editor John Allison, Dr. Adalja at the UPMC Center for Health Security and Dr. Karen Hacker, Allegheny County’s health director, warned that Zika is spreading.

“Now it has become a major public health threat to the world,” said Adalja.

“The first warnings were about travel to infected countries but now there’s more,” said Dr. Hacker.

“The biggest risk right now is in travel and that has been something that we’ve been talking about for a long time. The second risk, however, as we get into mosquito season is going to be the potential as we’ve talked about for mosquitos here in Allegheny County that might carry this,” warned Hacker.

Many who get Zika never know it and the vast majority recover, but health officials say its consequences are more than originally thought.

Besides microcephaly or a smaller size head at birth, the virus could cause damage to nerve tissue in the eye, neurological problems in adults, including inflammation of the brain, and Guillain-Bare syndrome, a form of paralysis, plus there’s a recent case of a young girl with spinal cord inflammation.

One concern is that someone gets infected — brings the virus back to Pittsburgh — and gets bitten by a local mosquito who spreads the virus to other mosquitos that bite more people.

And it’s not mosquito bites alone.

Adalja: “It can get into the semen of men and persist there for several months, 62 days I think.”

Delano: “Heterosexual and homosexual?”

Adalja: “Yes, so that’s why we recommend that men who have been in areas where Zika was present that they practice safe sexual relations.”

So besides safe sex, watching where you travel, and using bug repellent, says Hacker, “even more importantly, getting rid of standing water.”

“We know that that is where mosquitoes breed,” she explained.

What the heck kind of question was, "Heterosexual and homosexual"? Leave it to Democrat hack/faux reporter Jon Delano!