Americans don't get it - How many of these Zika facts did YOU have wrong?

'If the virus is cleared from your blood, there's no risk to a future pregnancy. That's where the evidence stands today.'

A new Harvard poll revealed a shocking number of Americans are ignorant of Zika virus facts, such as how it is spread and the effects it can have on the human body. How many are you aware of?

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The poll was conducted with a population of 1,275 adults, including 105 living in households where someone is or is considering becoming pregnant within the next year, between March 2 and March 8, 2016. 

Several frightening symptoms believed to be linked to the Zika virus have been released since the onset of the severe strand of Zika hit Latin America.

Babies have been reported to suffer microcephaly, the Olympics were in danger of being canceled and evidence supporting the virus is sexually transmitted have come streaming in as the epidemic unfolds.

The poll revealed that people residing in households where someone is, or is considering, getting pregnant:

• 23 percent don't understand the link between Zika and microcephaly
• 1 in five believe there is a vaccine for the virus - which is inaccurate
• 42 percent are unaware Zika can be sexually transmitted
• 25 percent believe, incorrectly, that people infected with the virus are "very likely" to display symptoms

Researchers discovered 87 percent of their population understood Zika was transmitted by carrier mosquitoes who have bitten Zika-infected people, but the remaining 13 percent believed it could be contracted through different means.

Gillian SteelFisher, the deputy director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, stated coughing and sneezing is "the way a lot of viruses are transmitted, but just not Zika virus. They think it's like the flu or like a cold. That's not how it's passed."

• 22 percent of Americans are unaware Zika can spread from an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy
• 29 percent don't know blood transfusions can spread the virus
• 40 percent are unaware the disease can be sexually transmitted
• 31 percent are under the impression Zika spreads the same way flues and colds are - through coughing and sneezing
• 71 percent of the American population is unaware of the link between Zika and Guillain-BarrĂ© syndrome, which can leave people paralyzed
• 67 percent claim they routinely take precautions to avoid mosquito bites
• 56 percent wear mosquito repellent
  
• 55 percent remove standing water
• 46 percent repair or replace window screens
• 43 percent avoid activities in areas that can bring them into mosquito-dense areas
• 39 percent wear long sleeves
• 16 percent use mosquito nets

Though several Americans are taking measures against mosquito bites, with 81 percent claiming to approve ground spraying and 66 percent would approve spraying from the air against mosquitoes if there were cases discovered in their city, most are not concerned about infection.

Just over three-quarters of the public, 78 percent, follow news about Zika outbreaks, 52 percent of whom say they follow the news "very" or "somewhat" closely, while only 25 percent claim to be "very" or "somewhat" concerned with contracting the virus within the next year.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior associate at the UPMC Center for Health Security in Baltimore, told CBS News: "Correcting mistaken conceptions of disease in the public is difficult in the best of times, but extremely daunting in the midst of an outbreak situation in which there is a large amount of sensationalistic media coverage.

"Public health officials must continuously repeat to the public what is definitely known about Zika, what isn't known, and what questions about it need more research to answer."

SteelFisher sided with Dr. Adalja, adding, "I feel like there is an opportunity here. Mosquito season hasn't started in full this year, so we have an opportunity to reach people."

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