More Michigan travelers showing Zika symptoms

DETROIT (WJBK) -
More people flying home through Detroit Metro Airport are showing signs they may have the Zika virus.

The symptoms are often mild and common with other diseases, but county officials aren't taking the threat lightly.

Passengers getting off flights from Mexico, South and Central America are staying on guard about their health.

"My son's a doctor of infectious diseases at Royal Oak Beaumont (Hospital) and he told me I should get a Hepatitis A shot, so I did, and he said before I see my grandson, I should wait a week to make sure I don't have any of the symptoms," said Roxanne Alfsen, returning from Mexico.

The most common symptoms include fever, rashes, joint pain and red eyes. The Zika virus is contracted primarily through mosquito bites and sexual contact and rarely causes death, according to the Center for Diesease Control. However, it is believed to cause the birth defect Microcephaly, causing babies to be born with smaller heads than usual. Nine miscarriages so far in the U.S. have been blamed on the virus.

Local health departments are working to keep Zika out of Michigan, testing anyone reporting symptoms. New numbers Friday show 59 people in Metro Detroit are having to get tested. So far in Oakland county, 24 people are being tested for the disease and 35 more in Wayne Macomb and Washtenaw counties. Six of those tests have come back negative, the rest are pending.

Experts predict the outbreak to continue to get worse through the summer Olympics in Brazil. There has been one confirmed case of the Zika virus in Michigan - a 61-year-old Lansing area woman, who contracted it during a trip to Barbados and has since recovered.