Thespread of Zika virus is becoming more alarming in the U.S. as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement Thursday stating an increase of about 33 cases recorded from 287 women that were infected with the mosquito-borne illness just last week.
The virus originated from the coasts of Latin America, the "Silent Epidemic", as the Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Tom Frieden calls the disease, is slowly spreading across the states. According to the news article posted by Yahoo, a number of instances have already been recorded regarding the virus in the US. Last week's report stated that babies that were born with birth defects and mothers who have lost their unborn babies due to the virus sum up to 7 and 5 cases respectively.
Zika virus is considered to be one of the most difficult diseases to track because some infected people do not manifest the symptoms. As reported by the ABC News, though "dozens and perhaps 50 pregnant women are becoming infected with the Zika virus," only one out of five shows mild symptoms of the virus and these include rashes, fever and pink eye.
Brazil, the country which was hit the hardest by the outbreak, now has more than 1,600 confirmed cases of babies born with birth defects such as brain abnormalities and microcephaly. Most of these newly born babies have abnormally small heads, which could possibly bring forth disabling developmental issues in the future.
Though the recorded Zika cases in the US only includes women who have acquired the disease by travelling to places where the virus is rampant, experts are still pushing their warnings to people with regards to the possible virus transmission especially that in the few weeks, summer season will begin. They advise people to take hold of their mosquito repellants and do fewer activities outdoors as much as possible.
