The Florida health department said on Wednesday it is investigating another two cases of Zika not related to travel to a place where the virus is being transmitted, raising the possibility of local Zika transmission in the continental United States.
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State officials said they’re working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conclude whether the cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties represent the first instances of transmission through mosquito bite on the US mainland.
More than 1,400 cases of Zika have been reported in the continental United States, but almost all are travel-associated cases, only a few acquired the virus through sex with people who contracted it while traveling overseas.
On Wednesday, they said they were trying to find out how the newly reported cases got the virus.
The cases fit a similar pattern seen when mosquito-borne clusters of two other tropical infections, dengue fever and chikungunya, occurred in Florida in the past, according to Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials also are coordinating with Miami-Dade mosquito control, which sends workers to inspect the homes and nearby residences of people infected with Zika virus. But scientists recently confirmed that infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects.
Health officials have predicted that mosquitoes in the U.S. would begin spreading Zika this summer.
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis made the achievement by infecting mice with Zika virus, which allowed the animals’ immune systems to produce anti-Zika antibodies.
For questions about Zika, including health impacts, call the Florida health department hotline at 855-622-6735.
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In pregnant women, the mother’s protective antibodies cross directly from the placenta to the fetus.
