(This video was updated on February 2, 2016.) Authorities have confirmed more than 30 cases of Zika virus in the United States.
Advertisement
“Right now my husband and I are looking to take a vacation and obviously, depending on where that virus is being located, we want to avoid those areas”, says Ana Bowers.
A group of pro-abortion activists, lawyers and doctors is launching a legal battle in the Supreme Court to allow abortion in cases of microcephaly and when mothers-to-be have contracted Zika.
The health department said a man under the age of 50 had been diagnosed with the virus after traveling to Colombia.
Meanwhile, the American Red Cross is taking steps to help prevent the spread of the disease. However, there have been reports of increased cases of a birth defect known as microcephaly that may be associated with Zika virus infection among pregnant women.
The virus is spread primarily by mosquitoes.
There have been no reported case of mosquitoes transmitting the Zika virus to people in Florida. Still, the state is unlikely to see the scale of the Zika outbreaks now sweeping through the Caribbean and Latin America, she and other health officials say, in part because residents of the Sunshine State have far less exposure to mosquitoes. Health officials think Zika might be connected to the rise in birth defects in the Americas, though it has not yet been proven.
Colombia is the second most-affected country, with an estimated 22,000 confirmed cases.
DOH has issued a Health Advisory to coordinate the statewide response to Zika virus.
“What worries the ministers is the speed with which Zika virus infections have spread”, she told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.
Gonzalo Vazquez, an environmental science researcher at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, said any transmission beyond Florida is likely to remain tightly contained because most tourists returning north aren’t likely to be bitten by any mosquitoes during the winter.
Twelve cases of the Zika virus have been found in Florida, and the state has declared a public health emergency. That case, reported in November, involved a girl who had traveled to El Salvador late past year and later recovered.
Health officials have said that about 80 percent of those infected have mild symptoms or none at all.
Advertisement
Schaffner said uncertainties remain about sexual transmission of the virus, including how long a person might be able to transmit it or whether an infected person must have had symptomatic Zika in order to be able to transmit Zika through sex.
