NEWS

Indiana resident 1st in state diagnosed with Zika

Shari Rudavsky
IndyStar

Health officials Tuesday reported the state's first case of the Zika virus, the illness linked to causing birth defects in Latin America, but they said its presence sounds no alarm for most Indiana residents.

The person who contracted the disease had recently visited Haiti, was not pregnant and was not sick enough to be hospitalized, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. The person made a full recovery, said Jennifer Brown, public health veterinarian.

The mosquito-borne illness typically leads to a relatively mild disease. Symptoms include a rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis (red eye) and fever. It is rarely fatal.

Only one in five people infected develop symptoms.

People who stay in Indiana likely have little to fear, Brown said.

"At this time, the risk for the average person in Indiana to acquire Zika is low," Brown said.

But because of the potential risk with pregnant women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised women who are expecting to avoid traveling to areas where the virus is active.

In addition, because there have been some cases in which Zika has been transmitted through sexual contact, health officials advise men who have traveled to areas where Zika is rampant to avoid having unprotected sex with their partners if they are pregnant throughout the duration of the pregnancy.

The virus has been active in 26 countries, including many in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As the virus has spread across Latin America, there has been a dramatic uptick in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a serious birth defect, leading experts to suspect Zika is the culprit and the World Health Organization last week to declare Zika a public health emergency.

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced he would ask Congress for $1.8 billion to help combat the virus, which is primarily spread when an infected mosquito bites a person. The money would help fund vaccine research and assist other countries battling the virus.

The CDC said that as of Feb. 3, 35 people in the United States had tested positive for Zika, all of whom contracted the illness abroad. That count does not include the Indiana case or that of a Cleveland woman who also contracted the disease after traveling in Haiti.

The virus is thought to remain present in a person's body for about a week after a person first experiences symptoms at levels high enough to infect other people. Health officials have recommended that anyone diagnosed with the disease stay inside for about a week so as not to pass the disease to any mosquitoes who could then go on to infect other humans.

It is unclear how the virus behaves in those who are infected with it but show no symptoms, Brown said.

Health officials say people need to carefully consider whether to travel abroad.

"Individual travelers have to weigh the risks against the benefits and the goals of what they want to accomplish," Brown said. "My advice would be for pregnant women not to travel. Everyone else really has to make a decision that feels right to them."

Some countries, such as Kenya, have announced that they are mulling whether to withdraw from this summer's Olympics in Rio.

United States health officials are keeping "an eye" on the Olympics, Brown said.

Brown said she would not expect to see a Zika outbreak here. Only two mosquito species are known to spread the virus, and only one of those — the one less effective at transmitting the disease — lives in Indiana, in the bottom two-thirds of the state.

Other conditions not present here also have likely contributed to the spread of the disease in Latin America, Brown added. The mosquitoes prefer dense urban areas where sanitation is poor. In addition, the Zika virus has another host in wild non-human primate populations, which Indiana does not have.

Still, Indiana has other mosquito-borne disease such as West Nile.

The same precautions that one takes against West Nile — such as wearing long sleeves and pants as well as mosquito repellent when headed outdoors — also could help lower any risk of contracting Zika virus from a mosquito. People are also advised not to leave standing water on their property, which could serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

None of these mosquito-borne diseases are as deadly as that most familiar of ailments: influenza. Last year the West Nile virus killed 119 people in the United States, according to the CDC. Depending on how mild or severe a flu season is, between 3,000 to 49,000 people die from that illness each year in this country.

Call IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.

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