Texas - Zika virus confirmed in Harris County patient who recently returned from Latin America

[Gert van der Hoek]

January 11, 2016

Zika virus confirmed in Harris County patient

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The Zika virus has been confirmed in a Harris County traveler who recently returned from Latin America.

The patient developed symptoms often associated with Zika virus, including fever, rash and joint pain.
The virus is spread through the Aedes mosquito.

According to the CDC, illness from Zika is usually mild with symptoms lasting several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and deaths are rare. There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika virus infection.

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[Pathfinder]

JAN 12 2016, 11:43 AM ET

Zika Virus Has Come to America ... Sort Of

by MAGGIE FOX

Zika virus, suspected of causing severe birth defects in Brazil, has been diagnosed in a traveler in Houston.
...
"I am really worried about Zika," says Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.
...
Hotez says Houston and similar cities such as New Orleans have good conditions for the spread of Zika...

They include wet lowlands where mosquitoes can breed, warm temperatures, and poverty.

"I am quite worried about Zika taking off on the Gulf coast," Hotez told NBC News.

"We have both species of mosquito that can transmit the virus. There's the right level of poverty and the tropical climate."
...
Hotez says cities such as Houston cannot afford to wait.

"The problem with it is we have to act now," he said. "This is such an unusual virus. It tends to produce low-level symptoms. You won't know you had a Zika outbreak until nine months later, when babies start being born with microcephaly."
...
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/zika-virus-has-come-america-sort-n494731