44.2 F
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024

NYC Urges Pregnant Women Not to Visit Areas Affected by Zika Virus 

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Memorial Day weekend is the long anticipated symbolic introduction to summer.  This is good news in many ways, but it also beckons the beginning of mosquito season. New York City’s health department is reiterating its Zika travel warnings, reminding pregnant women, and women who may become pregnant, that Zika remains rampant in Latin American countries. Despite great efforts to increase awareness, the travel warning has proven to be a difficult request for some residents to follow. Many New Yorkers have ties in these countries, with elderly relatives to visit, celebrations, or ceremonies to attend. NYC still accounts for a quarter of all the Zika-infected babies born in the U.S., as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Herminia Palacio, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, and Mary Bassett, the City’s Health Commissioner, held a conference in the Bronx on Thursday to publicize their new campaign and educate people about the hefty risks of travelling to some areas. “If you’re pregnant or the partner of a woman who is pregnant or might be pregnant, you should not travel this summer where there is Zika,” said Bassett, at the El Nuevo San Juan Health Center. “If you do, your developing baby may face tragic consequences.” For those who must travel to affected areas, Bassett said women should avoid becoming pregnant for at least two months after travel, and men should exercise caution for at least six months.

As reported by Policito, since the outbreak of the infamous virus in 2016, approximately 1,067 NYC residents have tested positive for Zika, 402 of them being pregnant women. The city is aware of 32 infants born with the Zika virus, 16 of which involved microcephaly, or cranial deformation. 

According to health officials, a big obstacle in fighting Zika is that it often has no serious symptoms. An estimated 80 percent of those infected, do not know they have the virus, and even a majority of the pregnant women appear to give birth to healthy babies. “They don’t believe Zika is real,” says Dr. Wilfrido Castillo, an obstetrician-gynecologist. “The patients don’t feel they are sick. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about the baby, but if they don’t feel sick they minimize the importance of this.”

City health officials are confident that there has been no local transmission of the virus. The mosquito Aedes aegypti, which has been found to carry the virus, thankfully does not live in New York. All but 11 of the local cases were contracted elsewhere, most prominently the Dominican Republic. The cases acquired in the city were sexually transmitted, mostly from men.

By:  Ilana Siyance

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -