Conditions

Zika Virus Can Be Tested Through Placenta For Unborn; Disease Spreads Through Sex & Blood Transfusion

By Vin Ross | Update Date: Apr 21, 2017 11:09 AM EDT

Zika Virus is usually spread by Aedes mosquitos, such as A. albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito or forest mosquito) and A. aegypti (yellow fever mosquito). As summer is gradually taking its peak, the season of mosquitoes begin and diseases like malaria and dengue become very common.

The County Public Health Department in California’s Santa Barbara has recently given an update on Zika virus disease. This is along with some vital steps to look after oneself and processes to be followed to protect family members.

How Zika Virus Spreads From One Person To Another?

The latest update published by Noozhawk on the virus gives more information about the way how it tends to spreads from one person to another. First of all, Zika spreads through bites from the infected mosquitos. Secondly, Zika has a high chance to get transferred from one person to another through blood transfusion and sexual contact.

Even if a pregnant woman is infected with the virus, the infection gets transferred to the unborn baby.This virus may also trigger epilepsy in infants, as warned by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the website further reports that no cases of transmission of Zika Virus have been recorded through breastfeeding. Between the period of Jan. 2015 and Apr. 2017, around 5,200 people living in the United States have suffered from Zika disease.

Latest Reliable Processes To Test Patients Infected With Virus

The Centers for Disease Control recently disclosed one of the best ways to test an unborn baby for the Zika Virus by using placenta, as reported by KRGV. The Cameron County Health Department also confirmed that it is the most reliable process to test to ensure if the unborn is infected with the virus.

The process of testing by using placenta is reliable because evidence of virus is highly expected to be tracked from placenta allowing for early detection. On the other hand, much testing for Zika Virus is conducted these days via molecular diagnostics helps practitioners track the actual virus in the individual, as shared by Aravinda de Silva, PhD, professor of immunology and microbiology at the UNC School of Medicine.

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