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12 May, 2016 00:00 00 AM
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With Zika at the doorstep, US health officials brace for battle

With Zika at the doorstep, US health officials brace for battle

With mosquito season arriving in the Gulf Coast states, U.S. public health officials have begun deploying a three-pronged battle plan to combat Zika virus, which has caused thousands of birth defects in Latin America in the last year.
Zika is the first mosquito-borne illness known to cause birth defects, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden has reported. While the virus typically prompts either mild or no symptoms in nearly all adults, it can inflict terrible brain-related birth defects if a pregnant woman becomes infected.
Brazil has been the epicenter of the Zika outbreak with nearly 5,000 confirmed or suspected cases of microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and brains.
The virus is expected to become active in at least some portions of the continental United States this spring and summer, especially Gulf Coast states, as it passes from person to person via mosquito bites, federal health officials say.
Health experts are hopeful that Zika will not spread as widely in the United States as it has in Central and South America. The main reasons: people aren't as exposed to mosquitoes in the United States, and much of the nation's climate isn't as tropical as Latin America's.
"The fact that we have more access to screens and air conditioning by itself is probably very highly protective," Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said during a recent Zika seminar.
To limit any potential spread of Zika, health officials on the federal, state and local level are deploying a three-pronged strategy: improving mosquito control; expanding their ability to test for Zika; and urging the public to protect themselves against mosquitoes.
    HealthDay


However, officials acknowledge it won't be possible to test every woman who's pregnant or might become pregnant to see if she has been infected with the virus. That's why self-protection and mosquito control are critical components of the Zika strategy, officials say.
Each state has a good idea which of its regions is more likely to have the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the main carrier of Zika, said Dr. Frank Welch. He is medical director of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals' Center for Community Preparedness.
For example, Louisiana officials are first directing their attention toward the Lake Pontchartrain area near New Orleans, along with some other smaller pockets around the state, Welch said.
HealthDay

 

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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.

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