The total number of Zika virus infections in Florida swelled to 486 on Thursday with the state’s announcement of 21 new travel-related cases and three non-travel related cases. She said the South Florida region was targeted because it remains at “the greatest risk” for the local transmission of the mosquito-borne disease, which is particularly unsafe to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects.
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This means that there are probably a lot more people who are infected in Florida, and several other states will likely also report cases.
At this time, there have not been any Zika cases in Missouri that have been linked to mosquitos.
Pregnant women who live in or travel to an area with active Zika virus transmission, or who have sex with a partner who lives in or traveled to an area with active Zika virus transmission without using condoms or other barrier methods to prevent infection should be assessed for Zika virus exposure during each prenatal care visit and tested according to CDC guidance.
That number has stayed steady, Cherie Drenzek, state epidemiologist for the Department of Public Health, told GHN after an agency board meeting this week.
Of the $26.2 million in emergency state funding authorized by Scott, $18.6 million has been allocated, including $5 million for the testing of pregnant women, $3.5 million for laboratories and $3.6 million for local mosquito control. Additionally, British and Canadian health officials have issued advisories about travel to Florida.
The primary carrier of the virus is the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a statement that the Zika funding impasse “never should have gotten to this point”. But Georgia is not out of the risk zone. Additionally, the department is working closely with the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade County to identify pregnant women in the one square mile area to ensure they have access to resources and information to protect themselves.
Mosquito season in Georgia usually ends in October, officials said. However, while there have been multiple reports of blood transfusion transmissions in Brazil, as of February 2016, there were no known cases of transfusion transmissions in the United States. Fifty-seven cases involved pregnant women from around the state.
“But we can not be complacent, because we do expect to see more Zika cases”, he added. However, officials are still investigating where two earlier-reported patients were infected-one from Palm Beach County and one from outside of the 1-square-mile area of Wynwood.
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. “People panic and there’s potential for irrational thinking in either direction, not doing enough and doing too much”. “Zika is now present in nearly every part of Puerto Rico, and now we have the first local transmission in Florida, and there will certainly be more”.
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“It’s not the whole city – it’s a very small part of the city”, Dr. Petersen said of the possible risk in Miami.
