By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
Zorina Quezada’s got a beautiful, 8-day-old baby boy. She knows the Zika virus can cause horrific birth defects, but that didn’t stop the Perth Amboy resident from taking a very risky trip while expecting, she said through an interpreter.
“When she was pregnant she went to Dominican Republic, and she was worried,” the translator said.
Quezada says her baby’s fine, but the apparently cavalier attitude about traveling to Zika hot spots while pregnant alarms health officials, especially in this very diverse state, where many in close-knit communities often visit tropical countries hit hard by Zika.
Why do people do that?
“I guess because they’re so used to traveling back and forth, not realizing how serious this mosquito Zika virus could be,” said Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey WIC Program Supervisor Kathleen Schlesinger.
New Jersey Deputy Health Commissioner Arturo Brito offered advice about Zika in Spanish and English to clients at Central Jersey’s WIC Program. New Jersey’s seen Zika cases jump from 28 a couple weeks ago to 49 today — all of them, travel-related. One Honduran woman with Zika recently flew to New Jersey and gave birth to a microcephalic baby.
“We are mostly concerned about the potential impact of the Zika virus on unborn children if it infects a woman that is pregnant, or thinking about being pregnant, and travels to one of those countries, becomes pregnant or is already pregnant and then comes back here,” Brito said.
Brito warned, men infected by Zika can sexually transmit the virus, so they need to take precautions as well. And while the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads Zika isn’t native here, Jersey’s local tiger mosquito might become a vector for Zika with people outside in hot, humid weather.
“Mosquito season is upon us. It’s a good habit to get into: eliminate standing water, use insect repellent if you’re going outdoors for extended periods of time,” Brito said.
Information sessions like this one, mosquito control programs and Zika research all cost money. New Jersey’s DEP got a half-million grant to monitor the virus and suppress mosquitoes, but Gov. Chris Christie struck $5 million in Zika funding out of the new state budget. The Congress meanwhile remains stalled, unable to agree on a $1.9 billion Zika appropriation.
“We have to get the money from Congress over the next two weeks, to make sure that we can begin to develop vaccines, mosquito abatement tools, the state emergency response dollars so that all of us are safe,” said President Barack Obama.
Health officials hope sessions like this one can help overcome both language barriers and complacency and spread the word about Zika.