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Updated: One Confirmed Case of Zika in Washoe County

Updated at 5:05 pm.

Wshoe County has one confirmed case of the Zikavirus. But a local health expert says this poses a minimal threat to the community. Reno Public Radio's Anh Gray explains.

A dozen blood samples from Washoe County were recently sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One did come back positive and belongs to a woman who traveled to El Salvador.

But Randall Todd, the head epidemiologist with the Washoe County Health District, says this infected person does not pose a risk to the community.

“Because this individual is not infectious and would not be able to transmit it to anybody else, especially now that she is fully recovered,” Todd says.

Zika is primarily spread through mosquito bites. Symptoms tend to be mild for most people and include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis. But Todd says the Zika virus causes much more serious complications for pregnant women, whose babies can be born with birth defects like microcephaly. It’s a condition that results in smaller heads and brain damage.

Updated at 12:10 pm.

There is one confirmed case of the Zikavirus in Washoe County. An official from the health district announced that a woman developed symptoms consistent with Zika after returning from a recent trip to El Salvador.

A dozen blood samples from Washoe County were recently sent to the Centers for Disease Control to screen for the virus, with one coming back positive.

This incident in Washoe County brings the statewide total to three. Two cases of Zika were reported in Clark County last month.

Zika is primarily spread through mosquito bites. Patients have reported that the most common symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.

Anh Gray is a former contributing editor at KUNR Public Radio.