N.J. Zika Virus Cases Double In Just One Month As New Dangers Arise

The number of New Jersey Zika virus cases have doubled in just one month as new dangers associated with the disease have arisen.

There are now 61 confirmed cases of the virus in New Jersey, doubling since mid-June, when there were 27, according to the data.

What's causing additional concern for health officials is that a Utah resident was infected after caring for an elderly man who died from a Zika infection in July.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's studying the matter because the mysterious case may or may not have been caused by known methods of the virus's transmission.

“The new case in Utah is a surprise, showing that we still have more to learn about Zika,” Erin Staples, a CDC epidemiologist, said in a release. “Fortunately, the patient recovered quickly, and from what we have seen with more than 1,300 travel-associated cases of Zika in the continental United States and Hawaii, non-sexual spread from one person to another does not appear to be common.”

New Jersey's Zika cases include a baby recently born to a 31-year-old woman from Honduras at Hackensack University Medical Center.

The child was the third infant delivered in the United States with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus.

The New Jersey data differs from what was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says 50 cases from New Jersey have been reported.

CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said he's not sure where the discrepancy is, explaining that the CDC number is based on what is laboratory-confirmed and reported to ArboNET.

"It’s possible they didn’t report by the time we pulled for this week’s update," he told Patch. "In any case, I would go with the state number."

The state also broke down the data by county, noting that all cases were travel-related. Nicole Mulvaney, a spokeswoman for the health department, said certain areas, such as Bergen County, have a higher number of cases based on population, particularly if people have family and connections to Zika-affected countries.

Here are the New Jersey cases:

1. Bergen 13
2. Passaic 11
3. Middlesex 6
4. Burlington 5
5. Hudson 5
6. Essex 5
7. Union 5
8. Camden 3
9. Morris 3
10. Monmouth 2
11. Ocean 1
12. Hunterdon 1
13. Mercer 1

The CDC has confirmed that the virus is responsible for causing severe defects in unborn children, including microcephaly, which leaves babies with abnormally small heads and often with brains that do not develop properly.

In total there are 1,306 confirmed cases of the Zika virus in the United States; 234 of those cases are among pregnant women.

Zika is a mosquito-borne illness that is characterized by a fever, rash and joint pain. While the illness typically resolves within a week, some severe cases may require hospitalization. Aside from mosquitoes, Zika can be spread through sexual contact in some cases, the CDC notes.

Meanwhile, authorities are scrambling to prevent the spread of the disease in the United States. Zika is spread by a specific type of mosquito — the Aedes aegypti mosquito. There is currently no vaccine for the virus.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were once thought to be a threat to only the southern areas of the United States. But the CDC maps show the possibility of that mosquitoes species reaching as far as New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania this year.

The CDC offers these tips to prevent the spread of the disease:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
• Stay in places with air conditioning and window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside.
• Take steps to control mosquitoes inside and outside your home.
• Sleep under a mosquito bed net if you are overseas or outside and are not able to protect yourself from mosquito bites.
• Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents with one of the following active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthane-diol.
• To prevent the spread of sexually transmitted Zika, condoms should be used properly. "We do not know how long the virus can stay in the semen of men who have had Zika, and how long the virus can be spread through sex," the CDC says.