Zika virus confirmed in Tarrant County patient who visited Caribbean
The Zika virus has arrived in Tarrant County.
Tarrant County Public Health officials confirmed the first imported case by testing a sample at the agency’s North Texas Regional Laboratory.
The patient infected with the virus had traveled to a Caribbean country where there is known local transmission of Zika. Tarrant County Public Health officials aren’t releasing any other information about the individual to protect the identity of the patient.
Zika is spread to people primarily through the bite of Aedes mosquitoes that feeds on an infected human. The Aedes mosquito can be found locally in North Texas.
“The most important thing residents can do is to eliminate mosquito breeding sites around their home,” said Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja. “When we stop the breeding cycle, we help stop the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.”
Mosquito season typically doesn’t get under way until late April or early May but Taneja said officials are concerned it could start earlier because of the mild winter.
Unlike the West Nile virus, for which officials trap and test mosquitoes, officials say it isn’t practical to test for Zika within the mosquito population.
“It would be like looking for a needle in the haystack,” Taneja said.
But officials will be looking for large concentrations of Aedes mosquitoes.
“The good news is, if you take care of your own yard, the risk is minimal,” Taneja said. “These mosquitoes only travel 150-200 meters. They like to stay close to home.”
But Aedes mosquitoes, which are active during the day, are aggressive biters that will get inside a house if they’re allowed. Keeping screens on windows and doors closed is essential.
The Aedes mosquitoes also carry chikungunya.
The West Nile virus is carried by Culex mosquitoes, which bite at night.
Joon Lee, a UNT Health Science Center associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, has been conducting trapping and testing of Culex mosquitoes for the West Nile virus. If the warm winter weather continues, Lee said, the Aedes mosquitoes could start breeding by the end of next month.
If Zika starts circulating locally, Lee said, he could conduct testing for that virus.
“Yes, it can be done if it is necessary but I may need a little bit of time to get the process up and running,” Lee said by email.
Zika has garnered attention in Brazil for a dramatic increase of microcephaly, a birth defect in which a child is born with a smaller than normal head, a sign of an underdeveloped brain. The number increased from 200 in 2014 to 3,000 last year.
On Tuesday, health authorities in the United States said they were investigating 14 new reports of the Zika virus possibly being transmitted by sex, including to pregnant women. Only two such cases have been confirmed, both in Dallas.
The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eyes). For most, the illness is mild, with symptoms lasting for several days to a week.
Sexual transmission of Zika virus can also occur, and public health officials encourage healthcare providers to remain alert for that, especially in patients who have recently traveled to countries with local transmission of the disease.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
Bill Hanna: 817-390-7698, @fwhanna
The Zika virus
Zika was originally identified in the 1940s in Africa. For most people, it is a relatively mild virus, causing rashes, red eyes and joint pain, or in many people, no symptoms at all.
But the association with a condition known as microcephaly, in which babies have been born with unusually small and deformed heads to women who had Zika during pregnancy, has raised global alarms.
On Feb. 1, the World Health Organization declared the virus and its link to the birth defects a public health emergency.
This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Zika virus confirmed in Tarrant County patient who visited Caribbean."