CDC issues travel advisory for 14 countries with alarming viral outbreaks

[Disir]

With mounting evidence that the mosquito-spread Zika virus is behind the skyrocketing numbers of severe birth defects in Brazil, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday cautioned pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant to postpone travel to a set of Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories experiencing Zika outbreaks.
“Until more is known, and out of an abundance of caution, CDC recommends special precautions,” the agency said. The advisory relates to 14 countries and territories where Zika has newly spread: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The warning appears to be the first time the agency has ever recommended pregnant women avoid specific areas due to outbreaks. But health experts at the agency felt the “enhanced precaution” was prudent after new evidence directly linked the virus to four cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. The condition can be fatal.
As the agency made the announcement, the Hawaii State Department of Health confirmed the first US case of a baby born with microcephaly and evidence of a Zika infection. The newborn’s mother likely became infected with the virus while she was living in Brazil earlier in 2015 and the baby acquired the infection while in the womb, the department reported.
While there have been several cases of Zika in the US, all of the people stricken were infected outside of the country and returned with the virus. So far, there is no evidence to suggest that the virus is circulating in US mosquito populations or that it can transmit from person-to-person.
CDC issues travel advisory for 14 countries with alarming viral outbreaks

I got five that says we have a problem in the States over the summer.

 

[saveliberty]

Brazil hosts the Summer Olympics this year.

 

[waltky]

Birth of baby with microcephaly due to Zika virus...

Baby born with Zika virus in Hawaii
Mon, Jan 18, 2016 - DANGER: US officials have warned against travel to 14 nations that have the mosquito-borne Zika virus, and especially for pregnant women, because it can cause birth defects

A baby born with brain damage at a hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, was infected by the Zika virus, US health officials confirmed on Saturday, apparently the first case of the mosquito-borne virus in a birth on US soil. The mother became ill with the Zika virus while living in Brazil in May last year and the baby was likely infected in the womb, Hawaiian state health officials and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. “There’s no indication at this point that there’s any Zika virus circulating in Hawaii,” US Centers for Disease Control spokesman Tom Skinner said. “But I think its 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,” Skinner said.

Zika can be transmitted by a mosquito that has bitten an infected person. On Friday, US health officials issued a travel warning for 14 nations and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America where infection with Zika is a risk. The US Centers for Disease Control in particular cautioned pregnant women not to travel to those areas as Zika has been linked to serious birth defects. The travel alert applies to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. The centers also advised women who are trying to become pregnant to consult a doctor before traveling to those areas. In the Hawaii case, a doctor recognized the possibility of a Zika infection in the newborn baby with microcephaly and alerted state officials, the Hawaii Department of Health said in a written statement.

The infection was confirmed by a US Centers for Disease Control laboratory test and an advisory sent to doctors statewide. The Hawaii Department of Health emphasized that neither the mother nor baby were infectious and that there have been no recorded cases of Zika virus acquired in Hawaii, although six people have been identified there who were infected outside the US. Zika virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses and are common in Texas, Florida and elsewhere in the US. The virus is usually a mild illness with fever, rash and joint pain. There is no preventive vaccine or treatment, the Centers for Disease Control said.

Baby born with Zika virus in Hawaii - Taipei Times

 

[Disir]

Brazil hosts the Summer Olympics this year.

Oh, yeah....summer is going to be fun. This is going to be awesome.

 

[waltky]

Could zika be the next plague?...

Zika Virus May Infect Up to 700,000 People in Colombia, Government Says
January 20, 2016 — The mosquito-borne Zika virus has already infected more than 13,500 people in Colombia and could hit as many as 700,000, the health minister said Wednesday.

According to Pan-American Health Organization figures, the country is second only to Brazil in infection rates, health minister Alejandro Gaviria told journalists. "We expect an expansion similar to what we had with the chikungunya virus last year, to finish with between 600,000 to 700,000 cases," Gaviria said.

A specialist fumigates the Nueva Esperanza graveyard in the outskirts of Lima, Jan. 15, 2016. The Zika virus has quickly spread across South America and the Caribbean in recent weeks.​

Some 560 pregnant women are among those infected, the minister said, though so far no cases of newborns suffering from microcephaly, a congenital defect caused by Zika, have been registered in the country.

The government is advising Colombian women to delay becoming pregnant for six to eight months in a bid to avoid potential infection. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention last week warned pregnant women to avoid travel to 14 countries, including Colombia, and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America affected by the virus.

Zika Virus May Infect Up to 700,000 People in Colombia, Government Says

See also:

Venezuela Short of Crucial Medicines
January 20, 2016 — With scores of medicines in short supply due to a severe financial squeeze, Venezuela is suffering a "humanitarian crisis" and requires rapid international assistance, according to a major pharmaceutical association.

The Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation listed 150 medicines, from those for hypertension to cancer, as well as basics such as prophylactics and antibiotics, which are scarce in the OPEC nation of 29 million people. "The national government must accept we are in a humanitarian crisis in the health sector, with patients dying across our territory for lack of medicines," said association president Freddy Ceballos in a statement. "It's necessary to activate all mechanisms of international health assistance to solve this crisis as soon as possible," he added, without specifying what aid he thought should be sought.

A Farmatodo pharmacy in Caracas, Venezuela​

The health ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the pharmaceutical association's statement, but Venezuela's socialist government has bristled at criticism of its health system, which former President Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer in 2013, spent lavishly on during an oil bonanza. It accuses local groups of exaggerating problems and says the widespread shortages in Venezuela - of food as well as medicines - are due to an "economic war" by foes.

Long lines form daily outside pharmacies, and doctors and patients constantly complain of lack of medicines and equipment. Maduro last week decreed an "economic emergency" in the recession-hit nation with the fastest inflation in the world rings up a roughly $10 billion foreign debt bill this year amid plunging oil revenues.

Venezuela Short of Crucial Medicines

 

[waltky]

Zika virus spreads fear in Latin America...

Virus causes panic in Latin America
Sat, Jan 23, 2016 - DESPERATE: The governments of El Salvador and Colombia advised couples to delay pregnancy in an attempt to avoid birth defects caused by the Zika virus

With the sting of a mosquito bite and a fever, many pregnant women might not know that they caught the Zika virus — until it strikes their unborn child. However, thousands of cases of birth defects linked to the disease over recent months are now sowing alarm in the US and in Latin America. Babies have been born with abnormally smaller heads, a condition doctors call microcephaly, which often causes brain damage. The scare has struck hardest in Brazil, which hosts the summer Olympic Games in August.

A worker of the Salvadorean Ministry of Health fumigates a house in Soyapango, El Salvador​

It is one of 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries that the US has warned pregnant women not to visit because of the Zika risk. “I am very afraid,” said Jacinta Silva Goes, a 39-year-old cleaning lady in Sao Paulo who is expecting her third child. “For the moment I am not using mosquito repellent because the doctor has not told me to. He has not spoken to me about Zika,” she said. Zika used to be thought just a poor relation of dengue fever, another mosquito-borne virus.

The WHO said it is transmitted by the same mosquito that spreads the dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. However, the WHO this week noted a surge in cases of microcephaly in Brazil, the country most affected by the epidemic. It said that “the causal link between Zika infection and microcephaly has not yet been proven,” though the rise in cases is striking. In the past year there were 3,530 cases of microcephaly reported, compared with a yearly average of 163 over the four preceding years.

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See also:

US Health Officials Issue Guidelines to Deal with Zika Virus
January 21, 2016 - U.S. health officials have issued new guidance for women who might have been exposed to the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne infection that can cause brain damage in a developing fetus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday warned that the virus is spread through mosquito bites, and there are no vaccines to prevent the spread nor drugs to treat those infected. The agency issued a warning to pregnant women to avoid travel to 14 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America affected by the virus. Those countries are Puerto Rico, Martinique, Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Brazil, Colombia, French Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Mexico.

A researcher holds a container with female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in Sao Paulo University, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan. 18, 2016. The Aedes aegypti is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus.​

It said that while there is no evidence to suggest that pregnant women are more susceptible to Zika virus infection, they can be infected in any trimester. "We are quite concerned about the potential complications to the fetus of a Zika virus infection of pregnant women, and so we really are advising that pregnant women seriously consider postponing travel to these areas if possible," said Dr. Beth Bell of the CDC.

Exposure, repellents, screens

Pregnant women traveling to impacted areas should take precautions to limit their exposure to mosquitoes, the agency said. "Mosquitoes bite not just at night, but also during the day,” Bell said. “And so the measures that people need to take to prevent mosquito bites, they have to use all the time, not just at night." Travelers also are advised to stay in places with screens on their doors and windows, wear protective clothing and use insect repellents such as DEET.

A health worker fumigates the Altos del Cerro neighbourhood as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Soyapango, El Salvador​

The virus has been linked to a rising number of cases of microcephaly, a condition associated with small head size and brain damage. Brazil and Colombia lead the countries with the most reported infections, but it is spreading rapidly in neighboring countries. Last week, U.S. health authorities confirmed the birth of a baby with microcephaly in Hawaii to a mother who had been infected with the Zika virus while visiting Brazil last year. The CDC urged doctors to ask pregnant women about their travel history. Women who have traveled to regions in which Zika is active and who report symptoms during or within two weeks of travel should be offered a test for Zika virus infection.

Zika unknowns

 

[waltky]

3 cases of zika in New York...

Three people test positive for Zika in New York: authorities
23 Jan.`16 - Three people in New York have tested positive for the Zika virus, which has been blamed for a surge in babies born with abnormally small heads in Latin America, city officials said.

All three had travelled to areas outside the United States where the mosquito-borne ailment is spreading rapidly, the New York State Department of Health said, without specifying where. Officials said one person has completely recovered, while the others are still getting better.

Soldiers check for Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae during a clean-up operation against the insect which transmits the Zika virus, in Sao Paulo, Brazil​

US health authorities earlier on Friday expanded a travel warning for pregnant women to avoid 22 places in Latin America and the Caribbean due to the Zika virus. It has been linked to thousands of cases of a birth defect known as microcephaly, when babies are born with abnormally small heads, which can cause brain damage.

New York authorities warned anyone contemplating travel to warmer regions to take care. "We are urging residents, especially pregnant women, to check all health advisories before travelling and take preventive measures when travelling to affected countries," said New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker. Women in these areas are urged to take measures to avoid mosquito bites, including wearing long sleeves and pants, and applying insect repellent.

Three people test positive for Zika in New York: authorities

 

[waltky]

Zika virus warning expanded to 22 countries...

US expands Zika virus travel warning to 22 countries
Sun, Jan 24, 2016 - MICROCEPHALY PROBE: An apparent link between the virus and an increase in the number of babies being born with unusually small heads in Brazil is being investigated

US health authorities on Friday expanded a travel warning for pregnant women to avoid 22 places in Latin America and the Caribbean due to the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects. Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa are now included in the level-two travel alert issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week the agency urged pregnant women and women considering becoming pregnant to postpone visits to Puerto Rico, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela.

A pregnant woman stands at her house in a zone of the Beco do Sururu shanty town near Boa Viagem in Recife, Brazil​

Women in these areas are urged to take measures to avoid mosquito bites, including wearing long sleeves and pants and applying insect repellent. “Mosquitoes that spread Zika, chikungunya, and dengue are aggressive daytime biters, prefer to bite people, and live indoors and outdoors near people,” the centers said. “There is no vaccine or medicine available for Zika virus. The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites.” Symptoms of Zika virus infection include fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes, muscle pain and headache.

The WHO said global investigators are probing an apparent link between the Zika virus and a rise in microcephaly in Brazil, where thousands of babies have been born with unusually small heads in the past year or so. WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said 3,893 microcephaly cases have been reported in Brazil, along with 49 deaths. Travel-related Zika cases have also been reported in Hawaii and Florida, although no cases of direct mosquito-to-human transmission have been documented in the US. In addition to the Americas, about 10 nations in Africa, Asia and the Pacific have reported outbreaks of the Zika virus, Lindmeier added, most of them involving “sporadic cases.”

US expands Zika virus travel warning to 22 countries - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

Brazil needs to get a handle on this before it ruins the Olympics...

Brazil Steps Up Zika Virus Fight in Olympics Run-up
January 24, 2016 - Brazilian officials have announced measures to prevent the spread of the Zika virus during the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games later this year.

Organizers said Sunday that venues used at the Olympics in August will be inspected daily during game times in a bid to prevent the spread of the mosquito-borne virus that has been linked to a rare birth defect and also a condition that can cause paralysis.

A health agent from Sao Paulo's Public health secretary shows an army soldier Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae that she found during clean up operation against the insect, which is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus, in Sao Paulo, Brazil​

The Rio 2016 local organizing committee said inspectors will try to eliminate stagnant waters where mosquitoes breed. Inspections of Olympic facilities will begin four months before the Games to get rid of mosquito breeding grounds. Daily sweeps will also take place during the Games. But fumigation would only be an option on a case-by-case basis because of concerns for the health of the athletes and visitors.

A baby named Luiza has her head measured by a neurologist in Caruaru, Brazil. Luiza, a Zika victim, was born in October with a head that was just 11.4 inches (29 centimeters) in diameter, below the range defined as healthy.​

Brazil is suffering from an outbreak of Zika virus, which health officials say may be behind a spike in cases of microcephaly, when infants are born with unusually small heads, as well as the paralysis-causing Guillain-Barre syndrome. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised pregnant women to reconsider travel to Brazil and 21 other countries with Zika outbreaks.

Brazil Steps Up Zika Virus Fight in Olympics Run-up

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Zika sounds like a Brazilian soccer name, Cafu, Pele, Bebeto, Romario, Zika, Neymar.

See?

 

[waltky]

Zika now in England...

U.K. diagnoses 3 with Zika virus; CDC expands travel warnings
Jan. 24, 2016 -- Officials in the U.K. diagnosed three British travelers with the Zika virus as the Centers for Disease Control in the United States expanded its travel warnings.

The Public Health England agency said the three cases are "associated with travel to Colombia, Suriname and Guyana." Zika virus is spread by the same types of mosquitoes that transmit dengue and chikungunya and are found in the Americas, including the United States.

The Zika virus was first isolated from a monkey in Uganda's Zika forest in 1947.​

Hospitalizations and fatalities are rare, with symptoms such as rash and fever lasting from a few days to one week. The virus was first isolated from a monkey in Uganda's Zika forest in 1947. The CDC added several countries to the list pregnant women should avoid in travels. The list now includes Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

The Zika virus has been linked to brain damage in newborns. There is no vaccine or medication to prevent or cure Zika virus infection. The virus has also been linked to an epidemic of microcephaly -- a developmental defect resulting in a smaller-than-normal head or brain -- in Brazil, and the birth defect has been found in other children where the Zika virus has been confirmed. The first case of Zika in the United States was confirmed in Puerto Rico on Jan. 1, with the first baby with microcephaly born in Hawaii two weeks later.

U.K. diagnoses 3 with Zika virus; CDC expands travel warnings

 

[Maryland Patriot]

and still no concern over open borders.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Quick, run an' hide - it's gonna kill us all!...

Virginia resident who traveled abroad tests positive for Zika virus
26 Jan.`16 | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Virginia resident who traveled outside the United States has tested positive for the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, state health officials said on Tuesday.

The adult resident had recently traveled to a country where Zika virus transmission was ongoing and the infection was confirmed through testing by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Virginia Department of Health said in a statement. "Zika virus is acquired through the bite of an infected mosquito. Because it is not mosquito season in Virginia, this individual with Zika virus infection poses no risk to other Virginians," Virginia Health Commissioner Dr. Marissa Levine said in a statement.

The Arkansas Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed that a resident of that state who had also recently traveled out of the country tested positive for Zika. Levine suggested travelers planning to leave the country this winter for warmer climates check health travel advisories and urged pregnant women in particular to avoid Zika-affected countries.

The virus has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya, which causes mild fever and rash. On Monday, the World Health Organization predicted the virus would spread to all countries across the Americas except for Canada and Chile.

Virginia resident who traveled abroad tests positive for Zika virus

See also:

The Latest: Doctor calls for more Zika info in Venezuela
Jan 26,`16 -- The latest on the fight against the Zika virus that health officials suspect is linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil. (All times local):

10:00 p.m.

A health expert is expressing concern about the lack of information on the Zika virus provided by authorities in Venezuela and is urging the government of President Nicolas Maduro to starting a national prevention campaign. Dr. Jose Felix Oletta, a former health minister and member of the non-governmental Organization to Defend National Epidemiology, said the Zika virus is "now a public menace" even though there are no official statistics on it. Since January 2015, Venezuela's Ministry of Health has not published the once-weekly official report on endemic and epidemic diseases in the country, sparking concern among doctors.

8:10 p.m.

President Barack Obama is calling for speeding up research to diagnose, prevent and treat Zika virus. Obama met with public health and national security officials about the mosquito-borne virus on Tuesday in the Situation Room. The White House says Obama was briefed on steps being taken to protect Americans and factors that could cause the virus to spread in the U.S. Officials also updated the president on how the virus' spread in the hemisphere could affect the economy and development. Leaders from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health and Human Services Department took part in the meeting.

The White House says Obama told the officials that all Americans should have information about the virus and how to protect themselves from infection. Health officials suspect Zika is linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil in which babies have small heads. U.S. officials have recommended pregnant women consider postponing trips to areas in the Caribbean and South America affected by Zika virus disease outbreaks.

6:30 p.m.

Health officials say a Virginia resident who traveled outside the United States has tested positive for Zika, a mosquito-transmitted virus. Health Commissioner Dr. Marissa Levine says the resident traveled to a country where the Zika virus transmission is ongoing. She says this person poses no risk to other residents, because it is not mosquito season in Virginia. Health officials suspect Zika is linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil in which babies have small heads. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that pregnant women consider postponing trips to countries and areas in the Caribbean and South America where there are Zika virus disease outbreaks.

5:25 p.m.

Related:

Health minister: Brazil is 'losing battle' against mosquito
Jan 26,`16) -- Brazil's health minister says the country is sending some 220,000 troops to battle the mosquito blamed for spreading a virus suspected of causing birth defects - but he also says the war is already being lost.

Marcelo Castro said that nearly 220,000 members of Brazil's Armed Forces would go door-to-door to help in mosquito eradication efforts ahead of the country's Carnival celebrations. Agency spokesman Nivaldo Coelho said Tuesday details of the deployment are still being worked out. Castro also said the government would distribute mosquito repellent to some 400,000 pregnant women who receive cash-transfer benefits. But the minister also said the country has failed in efforts against the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. "The mosquito has been here in Brazil for three decades, and we are badly losing the battle against the mosquito," the ministers told reporters as a crisis group on Zika was meeting in the capital, Brasilia.

A massive eradication effort eliminated Aedes aegypti from Brazil during the 1950s, but the mosquito slowly returned over the following decades from neighboring nations, public health experts have said. That led to outbreaks of dengue, which was recorded in record numbers last year. The arrival of Zika in Brazil last year initially caused little alarm, as the virus' symptoms are generally much milder than those of dengue. It didn't become a crisis until late in the year, when researchers made the link with a dramatic increase in reported cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect that sees babies born with unusually small heads and can cause lasting developmental problems. The World Health Organization repeated Tuesday that the link remains circumstantial and is not yet proven scientifically.

But worry about the rapid spread of Zika has expanded across the nation, and the hemisphere beyond. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised pregnant women to reconsider travel to Brazil and 21 other countries and territories with Zika outbreaks. One of them, the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, reported 18 new confirmed cases of Zika on Tuesday, though none involve pregnant women. One case had been reported earlier. Officials in El Salvador, Colombia and Brazil have suggested women stop getting pregnant until the crisis has passed.

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