Zika victim in Delaware

 A woman carries his parrot as a health ministry worker fumigates for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes inside her house at the Bethania neighborhood in Guatemala City, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is vector for the spread of the Zika virus which has suspected links to birth defects in newborn children. There is no treatment or vaccine for the mosquito-borne virus, which is in the same family of viruses as dengue. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A woman carries his parrot as a health ministry worker fumigates for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes inside her house at the Bethania neighborhood in Guatemala City, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is vector for the spread of the Zika virus which has suspected links to birth defects in newborn children. There is no treatment or vaccine for the mosquito-borne virus, which is in the same family of viruses as dengue. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A Delaware woman is the first in the state to contract the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

 

Leaders in Delaware’s Division of Public Health will announce more details on one of the first Zika cases in the region later this afternoon. For now, they say the woman contracted the Zika virus while traveling. They also say that pregnancy is not an issue.

Zika virus is now widespread in Central and South American as well as the Caribbean. Health officials say while most people who are infected with Zika do not develop symptoms, anyone who travels to the impacted areas can be affected. Symptoms of Zika include mild fever, skin rash, and conjunctivitis.

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Zika’s most serious threat is linked to birth defects in infants whose mothers contracted the disease while pregnant.

There is no treatment or vaccine to prevent Zika infections. The current recommended form of prevention is to avoid mosquito bites.

The state Division of Public Health is scheduled to update the situation in a teleconference later Wednesday afternoon.

 

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