This week Florida Health Department officials announced they were investigating two cases of Zika infection in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties – the first time the virus may have been transmitted in the U.S.by mosquitoes.
Advertisement
The baby’s mother was infected while in an area known to have mosquitoes transmitting the virus, the health department said. US health officials had anticipated some small local outbreaks of the virus, he said.
The department says its investigations into the non-travel-related Zika virus cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are ongoing and it will share more details as they come available. However, researchers in Brazil turned everything on its head on Thursday when they announced the “presence of the Zika virus” in Culex mosquitoes in the eastern city of Recife. That includes 14 cases in Tennessee, none of which were the result of local spread by mosquitoes.
“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 been an important source of knowledge in this effort”, the CDC said.
CDC officials have said repeatedly they expect to see cases of local transmission of the Zika virus this summer in southern states with warm, humid climates such as Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
Zika can be spread via bites from an infected mosquito, or by sexual contact with a person who is ill with the virus.
“If you multiply the cases we’ve had to date with the potential cases, we’ve already spent $50,000 to $60,000 this year”.
“Once we had approval, we began putting the test in place in the blood center, which involved writing processes and procedures, training our staff, making the necessary computer changes”, said Dr. Rita Reik, chief medical officer for OneBlood. “It’s the truck, it’s the gas, it’s the chemicals – it’s the whole shooting match”.
The CDC has come up with almost $60 million to divide between states and territories for local Zika efforts, but its officials also stressed that more money is crucial to expand mosquito-control efforts, improve the ability to quickly diagnose Zika and develop a vaccine.
Advertisement
The lack of money nearly certainly will delay development of a vaccine. The NIH has several promising candidates and is gearing up for first-stage safety testing in late August or early September.
