Florida is investigating a case of the virus that is not related to travel where it is active, citing the possibility of local transmission.
Advertisement
The Health Department today reported the first baby delivered with Zika-related microcephaly at a hospital in New York City. On Tuesday, the department announced a similar investigation underway in Miami-Dade County. These mosquitoes typically live near people and can breed in as little as a teaspoonful of stagnant water. Virtually all of South and Central America and the Caribbean is considered a hotbed for transmission of the virus.
Velayudhan said the same mosquito-control measures used against Aedes mosquitoes work against Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, the species identified in this study.
“Mosquitoes 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 same mosquito also has brought dengue and chikungunya to Florida and the Texas-Mexico border, but only in small clusters of cases.
Florida health officials have urged people in the areas being investigated to provide blood and urine samples if requested. That could help determine whether a local woman is the first person infected directly by a mosquito bite on the US mainland.
Officials said the mother and baby are being monitored by physicians.
The Health Department says it is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on this case.
Schaffner noted that the CDC can assist health departments with proper testing if needed.
Typically, the Zika virus doesn’t cause serious illness. Neither mother nor child is presently capable of spreading the virus to others or to mosquitoes in the area. They did stated that sexual transmission or travel have not been completely ruled out as of yet, though travel is not likely a cause.
In this Monday, May 23, 2016 photo, Aedes aegypti mosquitos sit inside a glass tube at the Fiocruz institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Advertisement
As of July 20, 1,404 cases of Zika have been reported in the continental USA and Hawaii – 98 more than the previous week. The rest – about 15 people – acquired Zika through sexual contact with a partner who contracted the virus overseas.
