“We just have too harsh of a winter and too dry of climate”, said Shannon Rowe, an Epidemiologist at the El Paso County Public Health.
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No mosquitos in the state have tested positive for Zika, but Florida Gov. Rick Scott said that one woman and three men in Miami-Dade and Broward counties likely contracted the disease through mosquito bites. Schaffner said the women’s body clears the virus in a week or so. The 14 locally transmitted cases bring the state’s total to 400.
Health Officials are urging people who have been in or near the Wynwood area to be tested for Zika.
He added that those anxious about coming to the state should keep the recent spread of Zika in perspective.
“You also don’t want to create panic when you don’t have the evidence that the disease is spreading elsewhere”, Jha added. “I’m guessing most women who are pregnant are doing that”. Meanwhile, 148 non-pregnant patients have asked for testing. Of those, 22 were in Dallas County, 24 in Harris County and 13 in Tarrant County.
In response to the news out of Miami, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending an eight-person team to assist local officials.
Experts have long warned that locally transmitted Zika would likely come to the USA this summer, but they say major outbreaks are not likely in this country.
Florida announced a second wave of Zika cases from local mosquitoes.
A baby born with Zika-linked microcephaly in Houston two weeks ago was the first born with the birth defect in the state, officials said.
Visit Sarasota County is working with the Sarasota County Health Department to distribute information to hoteliers, restaurants and other tourism-related entities as well as overseas travel advocates for the region.
“As an expecting mother, that is concerning to me”, says Vanessa Cole.
Scientists don’t believe that Zika infections can harm future pregnancies, said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. If they do, the most common are fever, rash, joint pain and redness of the eyes. Based on that evidence, the CDC advises men with Zika to wait at least six months before trying to conceive.
The riskiest season will run through mid-September, Hotez said.
To protect themselves from mosquito bites, people – especially pregnant women – should use insect repellent with DEET, cover bare skin with trousers and long sleeves, and stay indoors with air conditioning or window screens.
“There hasn’t been a lot of rain”, he said, “so you won’t find a lot of that going on right now”.
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CDC researchers noted that this is the first time the organization has advised against travel to an area within the continental U.S.
