Zika Virus Confirmed In Maine

The Maine Center for Disease Control has announced that there is a confirmed case of the Zika virus in Maine.

In a release dated Feb. 25, the CDC said that a male over the age of 65 from Hancock County has tested positive for the virus. The release said the man had recently traveled to a Zika-affected country and experienced symptoms after coming home. The CDC said the man was not hospitalized, and is recovering at home.

“The common link to this virus is travel, and this finding is not unexpected,” said Dr. Siiri Bennett, Maine’s state epidemiologist in the release. “Several countries in the Caribbean, Central, and South America are experiencing outbreaks and Mainers like to travel to warm places in the winter.”

“It’s important for the public to understand that the aedes mosquito that transmits the Zika virus is not found in Maine,’’ Bennett continued. “And that your neighbor who has come home from a trip to South America cannot transmit the virus to you."

According to the Maine CDC, only 1 in 5 people with Zika will show symptoms and those symptoms, which include fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and headache, usually resolve on their own.

If you do travel to a Zika-affected country, the Maine CDC has the following recommendations:

• Wear long sleeves and long pants
• Use an EPA-approved repellent on skin and clothes
• Stay in places with air conditioning or the use screens on the windows and doors to help keep mosquitoes out.
• Sleep under a mosquito bed net if you are overseas and outside

For the latest information on the Zika virus in Maine, click here.