State health officials are investigating the first potential, non-travel related case of the virus.
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In a brief statement, the department said it is “actively conducting an epidemiological investigation” of a non-travel-related case in Miami-Dade County in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Zika virus is spread primarily through the bite of the Aedes species mosquito.
Zika prevention kits are being distributed in the investigation area and local mosquito control workers also responded. That man died in late June and was the first death of a Zika-infected in the continental U.S. His age and another health condition made his exact cause of death unclear.
The Florida Department of Health is considering all known routes of transmission, including the possibility that it could be travel related, spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said. They’re also encouraged to cover up and apply mosquito repellent, and to cover doors and windows to keep mosquitoes out.
The North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) has confirmed a second case of Zika virus illness reported in a North Dakota resident.
The number of cases of Zika in the territory jumped again since last week, with nine new cases – all on St. Thomas – according to the V.I. Health Department’s weekly surveillance report of the mosquito-borne virus.
The Utah man has now fully recovered. Health experts think mosquito transmission probably will occur in the USA, but the expectation is that it will be in low-elevation, sweltering places where the insect has been a steady problem – such as southern Florida or southern Texas. Nearly all of the patients were infected while traveling in a Zika-infected area. Among them, 346 are or have been pregnant women. None of those has been the result of local spread by mosquitoes. Nine babies have been born so far with Zika birth defects and another six were miscarried or aborted.
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Health officials continued to remind people to drain any standing water to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.
