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DES MOINES | An Iowa resident has tested positive for Zika virus, the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a statement released Friday.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne illness that researchers suspect could be causing a spike in brain defects in children and paralysis in adults.

Since last May, people living in more than 30 countries and territories mainly in Central and South America and the Caribbean have been infected with Zika virus, which was discovered in the Zika Forest in Uganda in 1947.

The IDPH said the Iowa woman who contracted the virus is between 61 and 80 years of age. She has a history of travel to Central America.

"The general public is not at risk of contracting this virus, because the mosquitoes that transmit Zika are not established in Iowa," IDPH medical director Dr. Patricia Quinlisk said. "However, Iowans traveling to areas where there is ongoing Zika virus transmission should take care to protect themselves from mosquito bites."

Zika virus is most often transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes -- the same mosquitoes that spread dengue and chikungunya viruses. Researchers say Zika virus can also be spread through sexual contact.