Public health emergency declared in 4 Fla. counties for Zika virus

The announcement was made on Tuesday by local health officials in Dallas, one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika an global public health emergency.

Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is advising pregnant women postpone travel to areas where there are active, ongoing transmissions of Zika, including U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

The new cases were reported in Lee County, Florida state officials said Wednesday, adding that the previous 9 infected Floridians contracted Zika in the Latin American nations of Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti and Venezuela.

The order specifies that special attention for mosquito sprays will be in residential areas.

The virus can cause minor flu-like symptoms, but when pregnant women are infected, their babies may be born with severe birth defects. Scientists say the hotter it gets, the better the mosquito that carries Zika virus is at transmitting a variety of risky illnesses.

More than 5 million worldwide visitors came to Central Florida in 2014, officials say, with 1.9 million of them from South America, primarily Brazil, where the virus is widespread. A doctor from Colorado returning from Africa in 2008 is thought to have passed on the infection to his wife. As a community, we can help fight the Zika virus by raising awareness.

A warning from the Foreign Office, recommends women who are pregnant, or who are planning on becoming pregnant, to avoid travelling to countries where outbreaks have been confirmed. All patients had recently traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean.

United Blood Services is now asking travelers who have visited countries with Zika virus transmission to wait 28 days before donating blood.

The virus, which has spread across 23 countries in the Americas, is commonly transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitos. “This is especially likely if he developed symptoms of Zika virus disease”, read a statement from the Health Protection Surveillance Agency, the specialist diseases agency in predominantly Catholic Ireland.

“There is a concern that even if they don’t have symptoms, the virus can cross the placenta, and can affect the fetus”, Johnson said.