So far, 36 cases of locally transmitted Zika have been identified, all in Florida, and 25 of them are linked to an area around two small businesses in Wynwood, north of downtown.
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There is also the heavily tourist-laden South Beach area to be concerned about, and Frieden said he realizes tourists and residents alike will hardly heed the advice to wear a long-sleeved shirt and long trousers.
“Avoiding mosquito bites is the best way to prevent Zika, along with other illnesses such as West Nile virus, dengue, and chikungunya“, said Elizabeth Lueck, director of Cochise County Public Health Emergency Preparedness.
Transmission of the virus via mosquito has been confirmed in two sites in Miami-Dade County, but Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine said in a news conference Friday he is confident in the city’s efforts to combat it. City workers are trying to get rid of standing water and foliage that might attract the insects, while the county begins a fumigation program to kill the bugs.
While Zika is spread primarily through the bite of the black-and-white-striped Aedes mosquito, the virus also can be passed through sex, health officials said.
“We think there will be as many as 200 additional cases [of Guillain-Barre], given the overall number of infections there”, Frieden told NBC News. He said the federal agency also has sent Florida $35 million to purchase any Zika prevention and preparedness supplies the state may need.
The total number of travel-associated Zika cases has jumped statewide by nearly 50 percent in the last three weeks, from 114 recorded on July 29 to 170 by Friday, according to the state’s department of public health.
“We believe we have a new area where local transmission is occurring in Miami Beach”, the governor said. Officials from Florida participated in all these activities, and their experience in responding to mosquito-borne diseases similar to Zika has been an important source of knowledge in this effort. As of August 12, Puerto Rico had 10,690 laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika, including 1,035 pregnant women. Frederick’s wife, Pat, 32, who wore an orange sarong over a two piece-bathing suit, said she didn’t put on any repellent either.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports there have now been six cases of Zika that were locally acquired in Florida, meaning that people caught the virus from mosquitoes that bit them there, as opposed to catching the virus from a bite while they were in another country. Although the symptoms of the Zika fever are mild, there is now evidence that pregnant women who are infected with the Zika virus are at increased risk for producing babies with birth defects, most notably, a rare condition called microcephaly. However, the warnings also tend to heighten concern generally about the spread of the Zika virus in the continental United States.
“There are undoubtedly more infections that we’re not aware of right now”, he said.
The CDC says the first Zika infection on Miami Beach can be traced to mid-July.
“Today, Florida’s governor drew a box around 1.5 square miles where infected mosquitoes are spreading the virus”, ABC’s Steve Osunsami said. In rare cases, Zika can cause the autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome, which can cause muscle weakness and even temporary paralysis.
Pregnant women should not travel to these areas.
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The Wynwood outbreak prompted the CDC to take the unprecedented step of advising pregnant women to stay away from the area.
