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Texas Reports First Case of Zika Spread by Local Mosquitoes

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CLICK HERE - Texas Department of State Health Services - Texas Announces Local Zika Virus Case in Rio Grande Valley

reuters.com - by Julie Steenhuysen - November 28, 2016

Texas health officials on Monday reported the state's first case of Zika likely spread by local mosquitoes, making Texas the second state within the continental United States to report local transmission of the virus that has been linked to birth defects.

The case involved a woman living in Cameron County near the Mexico border who is not pregnant, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

Pregnancy is the biggest concern with Zika because the virus can cause severe, life-long birth defects, including microcephaly, in which a child is born with an abnormally small head, a sign its brain has stopped growing normally . . .

 . . . In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders.

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CLICK HERE - Texas Department of State Health Services - Zika in Texas - http://www.texaszika.org

CLICK HERE - Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services - http://www.co.cameron.tx.us/iHealth/ 

CLICK HERE - Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services - Public Health Preparedness

 

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brownsvilleherald.com - by Diana Eva Maldonado - November 28, 2016

Cameron County health officials are investigating the case of a 43-year-old Brownsville woman who has contracted Zika. 

State health officials say the woman is not pregnant and has not traveled to Mexico or any other areas known to have a Zika outbreak . . .

 . . . Officials are conducting testing at the woman's home and the surrounding area between 14th Street and International Boulevard and Taft and Garfield. The City of Brownsville had recently sprayed for mosquitoes in the area and will continue to do so.

County and state health workers will be going door to door asking for voluntary urine samples from neighbors to determine if others may have contracted the virus . . .

 . . . The county, state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working together on the case.

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nytimes.com - by DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and MANNY FERNANDEZ - November 28, 2016

A probable case of local transmission of the Zika virus has been reported in Texas, state health officials announced on Monday, making it the second state, after Florida, in which the infection is thought to have been carried from person to person by mosquitoes . . .

 . . . The state’s first case of chikungunya, a virus spread by the type of mosquito that carries Zika, was confirmed this year in Brownsville . . .

 . . . Officials have begun asking the woman’s neighbors for urine samples and trapping mosquitoes to test for the virus . . .

 . . . The state medical operations center has been activated to help with contact tracing, mosquito surveillance and public education.

The C.D.C. sent a training team to Texas this year but has not yet been asked to send an emergency response team, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the agency’s director.

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tpr.org - by Wendy Rigby - November 29, 2016

State and local healthcare teams have descended on a Brownsville neighborhood, after evidence that a woman there has contracted Zika from local mosquitoes . . .

 . . . In an 8-block area of southwest Brownsville  health workers like Erica Silva are going door to door looking for standing water where mosquitoes may breed, telling residents how to get rid of them, delivering educational materials in English and Spanish.

This neighborhood is home to the woman who tested positive for Zika.  

City workers have trapped mosquitoes here and sent them off to the state to be tested . . .

 . . . In just one day, healthcare workers in this border community have collected more than a hundred voluntary urine samples that will be tested for Zika . . .

 . . . Results from the first collection of urine and mosquito tests are expected by the end of the week.

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cdc.gov - November 28, 2016

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been informed by Texas health officials that Zika virus infection has been diagnosed in a resident of Brownsville, Texas, without any other known risk factors, suggesting possible local transmission of Zika virus infection. This case may be the first known occurrence of local mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission in the state. CDC is closely coordinating with Texas and local officials to increase surveillance efforts and vector control activities in this area.

State and local officials in Texas proactively issued Health Alerts in October 2016 expanding the testing criteria for Zika virus disease. They are responding rapidly to the current situation with a community-wide search for additional Zika cases, as recommended in CDC’s Zika interim response plan.

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dshs.texas.gov - December 9, 2016

The Texas Department of State Health Services and Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services have identified four additional cases of suspected locally transmitted Zika virus disease in Cameron County. The cases were identified as part of the follow up to the state’s first case of Zika likely transmitted by a mosquito in Texas, announced Nov. 28.

The additional patients live in very close proximity to the first case. Though the investigation is ongoing, the infections were likely acquired in that immediate area.

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