However, it adds that the current “active transmission” area is small and confined to a one square mile area of Miami-Dade County.
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Four different cases of the Zika virus have been detected in Florida and according to the State Department of Health, those cases could have been transmitted locally through mosquitoes.
Although there have been over 1,600 cases of the virus confirmed by health officials in almost all 50 states, every patient save the four reports in Florida contracted the disease either travelling overseas or through sexual transmission.
Because we are in mosquito season, CDC continues to encourage everyone, especially pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant, to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Spread of the virus through blood transfusion and sexual contact have been reported. The number of Floridians diagnosed with the virus has steadily climbed, but until recently health officials said all of the infections had resulted from travel outside the state.
Health officials are saying that now there is an epidemic of Zika in Mexico, the Caribbean Islands and Central and South America. While most people who get Zika don’t even know they are sick, infection during pregnancy can cause severe brain-related birth defects, including disastrously small heads. (Mosquitos only need the amount of water in a bottle cap to breed.)2. The Zika virus can also be transmitted through sex.
County officials said there are now no reports of locally transmitted Zika virus in the county.
Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC director, said the evidence suggests that the mosquito-borne transmission occurred several weeks ago over several city blocks.
Zika virus is spread through the bite of a mosquito that is in certain countries.
The mosquito is found in urban parts of the South.
Some have said Zika’s spread could be more limited than in places like Brazil, given widespread use of screens on windows, air conditioning and mosquito control programs. Dr Marc Fischer, a CDC epidemiologist, has gone to Florida at the state’s request.
More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported across the US.
However, Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought to battle Zika, according to The Associated Press.
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Florida’s main supplier of blood, OneBlood, said it was working as quickly as possible to comply with the FDA’s recommendation and would start testing all its collections for Zika on Friday.
