There have been seven confirmed travel-related cases of the Zika virus in Bergen County, more than triple that of any other New Jersey county, the Department of Health announced this week.

The Zika virus is one of the mosquito-transmitting diseases the New Jersey Public Health and Environmental Laboratories (PHEL) began testing blood samples late last week, the state Department of Health announced.

 

The PHEL can perform three diagnostic, CDC-developed tests to detect the Zika virus. The laboratories are also testing for dengue and chikungunya viruses, along with Zika.

There have been no known reports of mosquitoes spreading the disease in the United States, but travelers have reported more than 500 cases, including the 16 in New Jersey, the Department of Health said.

The PHEL conducts more than 5 million tests for diseases and chemical contaminants on a variety of environmental and clinical samples. The data generated close collaboration with epidemiologists, local health officials and multiple state agencies, federal partners and healthcare providers who use the laboratory information to protect the public.

“The ability to test residents for Zika and similar viruses will further enhance New Jersey’s preparedness and response to this evolving health emergency unfolding in the Caribbean and Central and South Americas,” Acting Health Commissioner Cathleen Bennett said in a statement. “We continue working every day to prevent local transmission as mosquito season approaches in New Jersey.”

Besides the seven confirmed Bergen cases, there have been two each in Passaic and Morris. Hudson, Camden, Burlington, Union, and Essex counties have each one reported case.

 

Bergen County officialsreleased a school of Gambusia fish in a Wyckoff pond Friday as a natural, proactive approach to protecting residents from the Zika virus called “Bergen Bites Back.” The fish feed on mosquito larvae.

State and federal officials have warned New Jersey residents that the virus could be a bigger threat and more harmful than originally thought.

The government scientists said they have definitely determined that Zika causes severe defects in unborn children, including microcephaly, which leaves babies with abnormally small heads and brains that do not properly develop.

State officials and Center for Disease Control officials previously said that the disease could be sexually transmitted, and that the mosquitoes that can transit the Zika virus may live in a much larger portion of the United States than previously thought, including all of New Jersey.

 

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