The agency said that pregnant women who live in the area or have to travel there should take extra precautions to guard against mosquito bites, including wearing repellent.
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“I encourage CT women who are or plan to become pregnant and their partners to take these travel warnings very seriously”, Pino said in a news release.
It comes on the heels of Florida Gov. Rick Scott announcing Friday that mosquitoes in the area have infected five people with Zika, including a NY resident. The visitors have returned to their homes in Texas, New York and Taiwan. During the press conference, Scott confirmed that there are five people have been infected by the virus, NBC News reported.
According to Florida Governor Rick Scott, the affected area is about 1.5 square miles, “running from the beach to the Intracoastal Waterway and from Eighth Street to 28th Street”. The first area known to have local transmission – called Wynwood – is now shrinking.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention advisory came as the 1.5-square-mile area of Miami Beach was designated as the second zone in the USA where transmission of the homegrown Zika virus is now actively spreading.
Of the five Miami Beach transmissions, two of the people live in the city, while the other three are visitors and are no longer in the area.
The Zika virus is believed to directly cause microcephaly birth defects in pregnant women.
“The risk is low, but the outcome is so horrific, you really want to try to avoid it”, Frieden told Gupta.
Florida officials have been working to contain the virus’s spread by curbing the state’s mosquito population, but the CDC says techniques like aerial spraying won’t work in the high-rises of Miami beach.
A broader travel advisory for pregnant women could threaten tourism and heighten fears for pregnant women living in the Miami area.
Health officials said couples should use condoms for at least eight weeks after travel.
“We’ve sampled a majority of residents living in Wynwood”, said Dr.
As the park is protected by the state of Florida, not all are on board for spraying the area. All told, 36 people in the state have been infected by local mosquitoes.
MIAMI (AP) – The discovery of Zika-carrying mosquitoes in South Florida certainly isn’t ideal for tourism, but local officials and business leaders are confident the long-term impact on the tourism industry will be minor. The report did not give a more specific location for the two cases, and the health department did not respond to questions about Zika spreading in Miami Beach. Additional lab support personnel will help us expedite Zika testing and an additional 10,000 Zika prevention kits.
However, another mosquito capable of transmitting Zika virus, the Asian tiger mosquito, has been trapped in several CT towns this summer.
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Scott also reiterated his request to the Obama administration for a plan to allocate federal resources.
