The state of Kentucky is launching a Zika awareness and prevention program. Officials working in the areas of health, agriculture, and entomology all participated in a Frankfort news conference Monday.
Infectious disease specialist Ardis Hoven is consulting with the State Department of Public Health. “We’ll be looking and monitoring for local transmission, that’s the key issue, local transmission. To date, Kentucky has had none. In the United States, there has been no local transmission. It’s all been from travelers coming back from infected areas," Hoven says.
Public Health Entomology Lab Director, Grayson Brown says such a case remains possible. “So, it would be possible for someone to fly in from a Caribbean vacation with Zika, get off the plane in Louisville, get bit by a mosquito and one case. So, it’s possible we’ll have a small number of cases. But, if it moves into the Tiger mosquito, then we’ll have hundreds to thousands," Brown says.
Zika is spread by mosquitos. State Department of Agriculture Environmental Services Director David Wayne anticipates increased spraying to control the insects this summer.
Newly-infected persons can transmit the disease through sexual activity. Zika has been shown to cause fetal birth defects in infants born to women infected during pregnancy.
