The main type of mosquito that spreads the disease was spotted once near the southern Utah city of St. George in 2013, said Ary Faraji, manager of the Salt Lake City mosquito abatement district. Health authorities in Utah are investigating a unique case of Zika found in a person who had been c…
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The Florida Department of Health announced Tuesday that it is investigating a Zika case that was not carried by a traveler.
Florida officials will not elaborate on how a resident of Miami was infected and whether the first case under investigation was related to mosquitoes.
He is concerned that because the frenzy over the Zika virus has gone on for so long, people may become complacent about protecting themselves against mosquitoes.
Six travel-related Zika cases have been reported in Polk County.
“Mosquitos have been trapped in the area of investigation and are being tested”, Health Department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said in an email Wednesday to The Associated Press.
The Florida Department of Public Health did not specifically rule out sexual transmission of Zika and did not provide any additional details about the case.
A blood-collection agency used throughout Florida soon will begin screening donated blood products for the Zika virus, according to officials.
Now they say they found the virus in live mosquitoes. “Hospitals that want Zika-screened products will request what they need on an on-demand basis”. It’s a matter of when we’re going to get a local case.
Zika’s most common symptoms-which last up to a week but only appear in about a fifth of the people who contract the virus-are fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes. The patient had traveled to a region with ongoing Zika transmission and sought medical care in Louisiana after returning, where tests confirmed the viral infection.
Finding infected mosquitoes isn’t necessarily easy, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Florida has seen sporadic breakouts of dengue, but public health officials were able to contain them by containing the insects. Experts are especially concerned about infected mosquitoes biting pregnant women.
Fogging trucks drove through the patient’s neighborhood Thursday morning. He said just a couple of drops of water in a bottle cap can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Health officials are anxious that Zika may have spread to the contiguous United States after a case of Zika that does not include travel or sex was identified in Miami.
Hotez also says he doubts Culex mosquitoes play a big role in spreading Zika.
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Though 1,300 people have been infected with Zika in the United States, all of those infected have contracted the virus from a mosquito bite obtained while traveling to Central or South America or through sexual contact with someone who was infected in a Zika-infected area.
