The Zika battle plan

Wednesday Aug 3rd, 2016

On February 1, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus to be a public health emergency of international concern. Seven days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised its emergency response efforts towards the mosquito-borne virus to the highest level of activation..

While no cases have been contracted through local mosquitoes in the U.S., the CDC reported 921 travel-associated cases and 13 sexually transmitted cases as of June 29. The Zika virus disease can impart microcephaly, a severe birth defect through an infected woman’s pregnancy, and many who are infected show mild or no symptoms, according to the CDC.

“There is no vaccine for Zika, so the best treatment that we have is prevention,” says Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen. 


Read more at: http://americancityandcounty.com/health-welfare/zika-battle-plan

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