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Travel Precautions To Thwart Zika Spread

LM Otero
/
AP

Long Islanders who have traveled to regions affected by the Zika outbreak are being urged to take precautions when they return so the disease is not transmitted locally. 

Susan Donelan, assistant professor of epidemiology at Stony Brook University, says she’s not worried about infected mosquitoes making their way up from South America, but of people who have been bitten and carrying Zika making their way back to the area.

“The mosquitoes from Brazil are probably not jumping onto the airplanes and coming back from the Olympics but the people that went down there to the Olympics, they’re certainly jumping onto airplanes and going back to where they live.”

People who travel from infected areas need to avoid being bitten by local mosquitoes for at least three weeks after their trip.

As of the end of July, 406 New Yorkers have tested positive, 45 of whom are pregnant.