Although no locally-transmitted cases have yet been found in Louisiana, public health officials are on high alert to detect and report Zika virus cases as early as possible. Although they were announced today, it’s likely they were included in the health department’s Zika count published last week.
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Aerial spraying of pesticides targeting adult mosquitoes is scheduled Friday over Wynwood as well as surrounding areas, and tablets of larvae-eating bacteria are being dropped into storm drains throughout Miami-Dade County just in case.
The state Department of Health still believes active transmissions are only happening within a one-square-mile area in the Wynwood arts district in North Miami.
The Health Department is also investigating a new nontravel case in Palm Beach County.
You can also get Zika through sex with an infected partner.
Currently, 27 people in IN have come down with the virus, but all those cases were picked up while the person was traveling.
Zika virus is known to cause microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defect in newborns and has been associated with other adverse pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, stillbirth, and serious neurological problems.
Always check in with your doctor if you think you may have been exposed to the Zika virus.
The emergency was declared one day after the US surgeon general visited Puerto Rico and said he expected 25 percent of Puerto Rico’s almost 3.5 million people will be infected with Zika by year’s end.
The CDC is urging pregnant women and their partners to stay away from Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood – the first time the CDC has ever warned against travel to an American neighborhood for fear of an infectious disease.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on mosquito-borne diseases.
Florida now has 28 cases of non-travel-related Zika, a virus that spread rapidly across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Texas has its first confirmed death related to the Zika virus, according to the Harris County Health Department.
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The governor has made Zika preparedness and eradication one of his top efforts in recent months, meeting with state and local officials to discuss ways to handle the virus, especially in the Miami area where it has thrived the most. In earlier statements, Scott specified that the location as bound by “NW 5th Avenue to the west, United States 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south”. “This means the area where we believe active transmissions are occurring in the state is significantly reducing”.
