Zika outbreak: are Missouri residents at risk? Here’s the latest
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an unprecedented travel warning, advising pregnant women and their partners not to travel to a neighborhood north of Miami, where the Zika virus is currently circulating.
In light of the recent news, ABC 17 News took a deeper look at how Zika could affect us in Mid-Missouri.
In short? It’s important to understand your own personal risk.
“We do have the mosquitoes though that could carry the Zika virus so there is a potential that it could spread this way,” Dr. Christelle Ilboudo , Assistant Professor, Clinical Child Health Division of Infectious Disease tells ABC 17 News. “But you have to take into account our geography, you have to take into account the temperatures, to see if that’s even a possibility.”
A mosquito bite isn’t the only way Zika can spread–it can also be sexually transmitted. Additionally, someone infected with the virus could pass it along to a mosquito that bites them. But, the key thing to understand, is that the virus is strong enough to spread for a very short window of time.
“It can stay around in the blood for about a week–that’s as far as we know. And then most people clear the virus on their own,”Dr. Ilboudo says.
Dr. Ilboudo says most people who are infected with Zika don’t have any symptoms at all, and eighty percent of Zika patients only have a low-grade fever, headache and joint aches.
The most concerning side effect–by far–is the birth defects the virus can cause in newborn babies.
For others, the virus shouldn’t be of concern. For example, if you are a 25-year-old male who doesn’t have a partner and has no intention of getting someone pregnant, Dr. Ilboudo says you shouldn’t worry about Zika.
Still, doctors do recommend taking basic precautions. Those include having screens on your doors and windows, wear long-sleeved light colored clothing and using deet as a repellent.
Here’s a link from University of Missouri Health with more information about Zika. There’s also a Zika information hotline that can be reached at (573) 771-ZIKA (9452).
