Second case of Zika in King County

Public Health of Seattle and King County reports that a second person has tested positive for Zika infection in King County.

The illness was identified in a female in her teens who had recently been in Haiti, a country that has Zika virus spreading actively and is on the list of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) travel advisories. The person was not pregnant at the time of her Zika testing in early May and she is no longer ill from Zika.

Zika virus leaves the blood of an infected person, usually within a week.

This is the fifth case of Zika found in Washington state. All five cases were found in people who became infected while in countries with current Zika outbreaks. With ongoing widespread outbreaks in the Americas and the Caribbean including Puerto Rico, the number of Zika cases among travelers visiting or returning to King County and elsewhere in the mainland United States will likely increase.

This Zika case does not pose a risk to the public in Washington state. Zika virus is primarily spread through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, or less commonly, through sexual contact with a recently infected man. The types of mosquitoes that transmit Zika are not found in the Pacific Northwest so local health officials do not expect Zika virus to spread.

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