Many Texans Are Worried About The Impact Of The Zika Virus In Their State

Of course you knew that Zika had hit South America and the Caribbean quite hard. And you most certainly knew about the risk of infection that is hanging over the heads of many Floridians. However, you may not have known that health officials in Texas are also worried about the virus’s impact in their state. So far there have already been several residents of Texas who have come down with the virus. At the moment, experts believe that the Rio Grande is the region in Texas that is at the most risk of being hit violently with Zika.

More than 1.3 million people live near the Rio Grande. Many of the residents living near the Rio Grande are poor and are living in areas where the Zika carrying mosquito is bound to thrive and reproduce in abundance. Many of the houses don’t have window screens or air conditioning, and standing water is common.

According to Joseph McCormick, the regional dean at the University of Texas School of Public Health, the poorest people will pay the highest price. Much like in South America, the poorest regions are also regions where the Zika carrying mosquito prefers to breed.

Ten cases of Zika have already been documented in the state of Texas this year, and there were a total of three hundred and twenty cases documented during the prior two years. Around two hundred and fifty women and children in Texas have shown signs of having the virus, and all those documented cases have been reported to the Federal Zika Pregnancy Registry. Last November the state of Texas saw its first locally transmitted case of Zika in Brownsville. This led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to classify Brownsville as a “cautionary area”.

Do you believe that you have valid reason to fear the Zika virus?