20 South Carolinians tested for Zika virus
Twenty people in South Carolina have been tested for the Zika virus, with 11 cases coming back negative and nine still pending, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
All of the people tested have traveled to countries with active transmission, and they live in various regions of the state, a DHEC spokesman said Thursday.
“We have no confirmed cases in South Carolina as of today,” spokesman Robert Yanity said, adding that anyone wanting to be tested for the virus should contact their health care provider.
Yanity wouldn’t break the cases out by gender, county or region, “out of an abundance of caution to protect the privacy of the individuals.”
Local doctors and disease experts have said an outbreak of the Zika virus in South Carolina is possible, but not probable. The virus has the most serious effect on pregnant women, causing children to be born with small heads or hardened spots on their brains.
DHEC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are urging pregnant women who have recently traveled to Mexico, Central and South America or some Caribbean islands to be aware of symptoms of the virus. Any pregnant woman planning to travel to areas where the virus has spread should either cancel her plans or take strict precautions to avoid being bitten by the aggressive mosquito that spreads the virus.
The Zika virus is spread to people through bites from the aedes aegypti, or yellow fever, mosquito, according to the CDC. Symptoms of the disease are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, or red eyes. The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week.
Health authorities have said the virus is spreading “explosively” through the Americas. The World Health Organization has estimated the virus will infect 4 million people in the hemisphere by year’s end, according to The Washington Post.
This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "20 South Carolinians tested for Zika virus."