COLUMBUS – As the federal government warns that mosquitoes bearing the Zika virus could range as far north as Columbus this summer, health officials say there is conclusive evidence that the virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and other severe brain defects.
The findings by experts in the U.S. confirm what doctors in Brazil have suspected.
Zika, primarily transmitted by mosquitoes, has spread across Latin America but officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned earlier this month that the two types of disease-bearing mosquitoes might be found in Columbus (see map above).
The maps above show the CDC’s best estimate of the potential range of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and are not meant to represent risk for spread of disease.
The Ohio Department of Health says the state has nine cases of Zika, all related to people who had traveled to affected countries. Columbus Public Health says it has performed tests for Zika on 43 patients with none of them testing positive, though 12 results are still pending.