They’ve also established health alerts for physicians to keep them apprised of the latest information. That case, however, was not from the Wynwood area where the previous cases were discovered.
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Knight lives in Palmetto Bay and works at a communications firm in Coral Gables, but she’s spent time in Wynwood, including a dinner the night before pregnant women were told to avoid the area. Obstetricians are handing out kits that include bug spray with DEET, a strong chemical that pregnant women are usually told to avoid, plus tablets to kill insects in standing water, and condoms, since the disease can also be transmitted sexually.
“It’s the flawless mix – local transmission in Florida, travel to Brazil, and we’re at the height of mosquito season in Texas”, said John Hellerstedt, Texas Department of State Health Services commissioner, referring to the Olympic Games beginning this week in Rio.
“DOH believes local transmissions are still only occurring in the same square mile area of Miami”. Broward County will continue spraying in the early morning hours, focusing on the area where the suspected local infection took place.
Health officials say two babies have been born with Zika-related defects in California.
As of Wednesday, the state also had 336 confirmed travel-related cases of Zika virus, meaning patients were exposed to the illness while traveling outside of the country.
“A safe and effective vaccine to prevent Zika virus infection and the devastating birth defects it causes is a public health imperative”, NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a statement.
“We’re not seeing the number of mosquitoes come down as rapidly as we would have liked”, he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Omar Young at Washington University and Barnes Jewish Hospital says many of his patients are asking him what they should do about the virus.
“Zika had never been in this part of the world before, so the entire population is vulnerable to it – the entire human population and mosquito population”, she said. “It’s like a little ninja”. She said the staff “has been inundated with questions to the point that we are been doing education sessions for people who answer the phones about Zika so they can help the anxious patients triage their concerns”.
No other information about the patient will be made available.
Tip ‘n Toss: The Southeast coastal city, like many across the country, is asking residents to remove items from their yards that might collect water.
Because of environmental regulations governing which chemicals can be used as insecticides, mosquito control authorities cannot easily switch to another compound if bugs prove resistant.
“We’re taking this extremely seriously”, he said during a news conference following a National Security Council meeting on the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. And the Food and Drug Administration has not given approval to that approach in the U.S.
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The risk of Zika exists outside Miami as well because the mosquito that can transmit the virus is widespread across the South and Southwest.
