Officials in Alabama said the person had recently traveled to a country affected by the virus and returned infected.
The individual, who has not been identified, is a resident of Morgan County in the Tennessee Valley and is said to be 'fine'.
Four other people have been tested and are awaiting results, while another person, who had returned from Latin American country, came back negative.
'We knew it was only a matter of time before we would have the first positive case of an individual in Alabama with Zika virus,' he said.
'Given the frequency of international travel to affected areas, we anticipate having additional positive cases. We are working with the medical community to identify high-risk individuals.'
The worst affected areas are Florida, with 14 cases of Zika, Texas, with 11, California, with six, and New York, with five.
Hawaii, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, have all seen at least two cases, while 10 other states have each seen one infection.
Indiana and Ohio became the latest states to confirm infections after women returning from Haiti were found to have the virus.
Of the 59 reported cases of the virus in the U.S., all of them have been brought back into the country by people who became infected abroad.
There have been no cases where the virus has been spread by mosquitoes in the U.S.
More
I have been out splitting firewood this morning and the mosquitoes are just eating me up! I had to come inside to put on some repellent!
ReplyDeleteInfectious diseases indiscriminately brought in from other countries, can be devastating in a previously unexposed population. We know how reprehensible it was, for the government to provide smallpox infested blankets to the Indians, a hundred years ago. Yet our government still openly allows people to come here from other countries where deadly infections are rampant, to spread throughout this country. Ebola, Zika, and other horrendous diseases, are just the start.
ReplyDelete