New York's response to the Zika virus outbreak and prevention strategy

New York and the Zika Virus

Description and Controlling Efforts

The communicable disease researched within this document is the Zika virus. This is a virus which is primarily transmitted to humans from mosquitoes. The mosquito which is known to carry this virus is the Aedes Eegypti mosquito which is natively found in South America and Central America (New York State, 2016). An initial Zika outbreak in the U.S. took place in the summer of 2016. The state of New York is attempting to prevent the virus from spreading to it with a proactive plan involving several measures.

Environmental Factors

There are myriad environmental factors related to this disease. The most salient is the presence of standing water, which naturally attracts mosquitoes. It is necessary to protect all water which is not running from the presence of mosquitoes which could potentially transmit the Zika virus. The other environmental factors pertain to human transmission of this virus. People can transmit it to one another through sexual intercourse (CDC, 2016), in all of its variety. Additionally, people can transmit this virus through traveling to places in which mosquitoes carrying the virus reside. By getting bitten by such a mosquito, they can unwittingly transmit the virus via sex.

Identify the environmental factors related to this disease.

Lifestyles, Socioeconomic Status and Disease Management

Lifestyles, socioeconomic status and disease management certainly factor into this communicable disease in New York. Lifestyles correlates to the people who have the wealth to travel to foreign countries inhabited by Zika carrying mosquitoes, or even those who can travel to southern parts of the U.S. in which the virus has been reported. Socioeconomic status pertains to the poor who might be either too ignorant or too penurious to afford protection measures for safe sex. Disease management factors into the proactive method the state is taking to prevent the virus from spreading.

Recommendations

The chief recommendation is to heighten traveler awareness of the Zika virus while at airports. This can be achieved via signage and public announcements about the threat of Zika in some of the most common places. This way, travelers who are going to these areas can know to avoid mosquitoes, standing water, and the other environmental factors pertaining to this threat.

Public Health Department

Within New York, the public health department is doing a considerable amount to reduce the threat of the Zika virus. It is working with state agencies to disseminate protection kits to the population at large, and to pregnant women in particular, which are of use against this disease (New York State, 2016). This collaboration is also responsible for infusing the community with larvicide tablets which can neutralize the water sources which mosquitoes frequent (New York State, 2016) -- thereby reducing the incidence of mosquitoes which might contain this virus.