We previously reported on suspicions that pesticides used to combat Zika, and not the Zika virus itself, were causing microcephaly in babies. It turns out that this is not true. Reports in the New England Journal of Medicine and the journal Science directly associate microcephaly with the Zika virus. This just adds to the urgency in containing and eliminating the virus.
Zika virus has not become a huge problem in the USA, but it has also definitely not gone away. As of April 6th, there have been almost 350 cases of Zika found in the States and all of them have been linked to travel in areas heavily affected by Zika. Nobody in the continental US has acquired Zika from a local mosquito, which hopefully means that there are no Zika-carrying aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the country.
The best way to avoid Zika is not to travel to countries that have affected mosquitoes. The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning against travel to over 40 countries due to Zika. They keep that advisory up to date with the latest Zika outbreaks. All of the normal advice against mosquitoes still applies: wear long clothing when possible, try to avoid wet areas where mosquitoes thrive, and use effective insect protection. CedarCide offers CedarCide Original Biting Insect Spray, a natural and effective insect repellent that does not contain DEET.
Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/united-states.html
http://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa1601824
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/04/11/science.aaf6116
The post Update on Zika appeared first on CedarCide.
No comments:
Post a Comment