Anne Saker

asaker@enquirer.com

Cincinnati has registered its first case of Zika virus, in a middle-aged man who traveled to a Caribbean nation in May.

That led city public health officials to caution residents at the start of the July Fourth weekend to take greater precaution against mosquito bites.

“Wear long-sleeved shirts. Cover your legs,” interim Health Commissioner Dr. O’dell Owens at a Friday news conference at the Cincinnati Health Department on Burnet Avenue. “Look for standing water around your house. Even if you empty your bird bath, scrub it out. That’s where the mosquitoes lay their eggs.”

Dr. Stephen Englender, with the department’s Center for Public Health Preparedness, and Owens urged residents to use mosquito repellent that contains the ingredient DEET for best protection. Put on sunscreen first, then the bug spray, Owens said.

This week, the city also acquired mosquito traps that are best for capturing the Aedes variety believed to be the chief culprit in the spread of the illness. Robert Smith, with the city’s environmental technical services department, said the city will be setting out the traps over the next few weeks.

Estimated range of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in the US | Zika virus | CDC

Owens said the local Zika virus case turned up in a man in his 50s who in late May visited a Caribbean country that is a hot zone for the virus. Owens declined to identify the patient’s destination to protect privacy.

The case is the 21st that Ohio has recorded since world and federal health authorities raised the alarm earlier this year about the mosquito-borne illness. The chief chief concern is that Zika virus appears to cause a significant birth defect called microcephaly, causing a baby to be born with a smaller-than-normal head.

Yet 80 percent of people who get infected with Zika virus never know they have it. The most common symptoms are a fever, an itchy rash and red eyes.

Northern Kentucky public health officials reported their first case of Zika virus last week, again in someone who had traveled recently to one of the 30 countries in Central and South American experiencing the outbreak.

Zika virus remains in the blood for at least a week and in urine for at least two. Zika virus stays in semen for at least two months and can be sexually transmitted. Last week, Ohio registered its first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus, in a Lucas County woman whose husband had traveled to a Zika virus area.

Owens urged men who travel to the Zika-afflicted region to wear condoms for at least six months afterward.