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The Zika virus, whose total detriments to the human body are yet to be learned, has spread from Northern Argentina to Southern Florida as of July 2014.
According to Maggie Fox of NBC News, currently, the locally acquired cases of Zika have been contained to three locations within Florida: Miami Beach, Pinellas, and the Wynwood neighborhood, north of Miami.
More specifically, “To date, as many as 2,300 pregnant women have contracted the virus during their pregnancies, the officials said. And 22 babies in the United States and its territories have been born with microcephaly and other birth defects after they were exposed during gestation to Zika,” according to Healy of the LA Times.
Furthermore, experts believe that more outbreaks will occur in the Gulf Coast States, such as Texas and Louisiana, since these locations are home to the Aedes Aegyptus mosquito, Fox notes. However, it appears that as of right now the remaining states are relatively safe from local transmission since the Zika causing mosquito “usually travel no further than about 500 to 600 yards in their lifetimes;” however, Fox contiunes, “People, of course, travel much further.” People are more likely to be inflicted with the disease by traveling to the infected regions and have the possibility of bringing it back to their home states.
While much about Zika is still unknown, Congress has granted 1.1 billion dollars towards Zika research, Healy reports. She adds that much of the money will go towards studies researching the long-term effects of the virus on infants, including those with no obvious birth defects.
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It is presently known that the effects of the Zika virus include: brain abnormalities, risk of stillbirths or death within 24 hours of birth.
However, since Congress was so late in providing funding, research groups are far behind where they should be in developing a vaccine, as well as a test for people who have traveled to these locations.
All that is left for citizens to do is to follow the preventive measures set by the CDC and hope that a vaccine is being created to protect women of childbearing age and men who are preparing to be fathers.
Works Cited:
Fox, Maggie. “Expect More U.S. Zika Virus Cases, Experts Say.” NBCNews.NCBNews.com, 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.
Healy, Melissa. “With $1.1 billion in new funding, U.S. health officials outline plan for fighting Zika.” LATimes. tronc Inc., 3 Oct. 2016. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.