While health officials have yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the virus, the state has ruled out other means of transmission, including travel to another country with a Zika outbreak, and sexual contact.
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The state health department is reporting that “a high likelihood exists” that all four cases resulted from active transmission of the virus in a 1-mile area just north of downtown Miami.
Health officials have been long predicting this would happen in the continental USA sometime this summer, probably in Florida and Texas, because of the large numbers of people who travel back and forth to Latin America. We will continue to put every resource available to fight in the spread of Zika in our state.
More than 1,650 people in the mainland U.S. have been infected with Zika in recent months, almost all while traveling overseas. So there’s a concern that it’s a pregnant woman who may have been exposed to Zika or somebody who has symptoms of an infection. There have been more than 4,700 cases of mosquito-borne Zika in Puerto Rico and other USA territories. Residents and visitors are urged to participate in requests for urine samples by the department in the areas of investigation.
Four people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been infected with the Zika virus by local mosquitoes.
The Austin American-Statesmanreported one of the patients is more than 50 years old and the other two were under 50, according to Williamson County and Cities Health District officials. Travelers expressed confidence that public health officials will do all they can to contain the Zika to Miami.
Knowing that the virus is being spread by the insects here in the US has some Tri-State parents concerned.
“One of the reasons I started to give blood was because of pregnant women”, said Ray Corona.
The main species of mosquito known to spread Zika, the Aedes aegypti, is not believed to circulate in Missouri or IL. Officials from Florida participated in all these activities, and their experience in responding to mosquito-borne diseases similar to Zika, including dengue and chikungunya, has helped guide their current investigations. The vast majority of the cases were from people who traveled to a Zika-prone country, such as Brazil. The virus can cause fetuses to develop microcephaly, a serious birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head and brain damage.
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President Obama has asked his team to ensure Florida has the support it needs after being briefed on the new cases.
