Because of the Zika virus’ propensity to infect the fetuses of pregnant women, Texas health officials have become proactive, taking the drastic step of expanding Zika virus testing to include all pregnant women, according to the Tech Times.
And while the nation’s attention was on the spread of the Zika virus in Florida last year, Texas has already seen 10 documented cases in 2017. The first of the cases was reported in Brownsville, Texas in late November, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to designate Brownsville as a “cautionary area” that pregnant women should avoid.
The Pan American Health Organization’s most recent Regional Zika Epidemiological Update (Americas) was issued on March 10, 2017. The report showed the number of people infected with the Zika virus in the Caribbean is 651 cases per week, and in South America, the weekly average is 6,601 cases, of which 6,164 were reported in Brazil alone.
The United States saw over 5,000 documented zika virus cases from January 1, 2015, through March 1, 2017, with 4,779 cases being people who had contracted the virus while traveling outside the country. However, six cases in Texas and 215 cases in Florida were presumed to be acquired through local mosquito-borne transmission.
Texas health officials announce new protocols for Zika testing
On April 7, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced they were recommending that all pregnant women in six Texas counties in the South Texas region, including Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy, Webb, and Zapata counties, be tested for the Zika virus in the first and second trimesters of their pregnancies.
The Health Department also recommends testing if a person in the six-county region exhibits any two of the most common Zika symptoms, which include rash, joint pain, redness of the eye, and fever.
For the rest of the State, health officials are recommending that if anyone exhibits three of the common symptoms to get tested. And any pregnant woman who has traveled to Mexico should be tested for the Zika virus. “Zika remains a significant health risk to pregnant women and their babies, and it’s only a matter of time until we see local transmission here again,” stated John Hellerstedt, who is also the commissioner of DSHS.
The Rio Grande Valley is a hot-spot for the Zika virus
The counties in the Rio Grande valley that borders the U.S. with Mexico is home to 1.3 million people, many of them living in poverty, without air-conditioning or screens on their windows.
Patricia Pena, who works with the community nonprofit La Frontera Ministries to educate locals on the virus, told the Guardian, “You have a lot of these families who don’t even have money to get rid of their garbage, and their houses are infested with all kinds of creatures, including mosquitoes.”
Joseph McCormick, regional dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health is also worried, telling Fox News, “it’s going to hit the poorest people.” He points out that very few people in the region have health insurance and there is no public hospital.
According to a CDC estimate, the United States, along with Puerto Rico, reported a total of 36,504 cases of Zika virus infections in 2016.
