In a statement issued on 31 August, the Public Health Agency of Canada recommended pregnant women and those considering becoming pregnant avoid travelling to areas in the USA with reported mosquito-borne Zika virus.
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Florida officials on Thursday said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local US transmission of the illness that can cause severe birth defects.
A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed nearly half of 1,211 Americans questioned would not be comfortable travelling to places in the United States, such as Florida, where there had been confirmed cases of Zika. Up to 61 percent felt that way about traveling to Puerto Rico or other Zika zones outside the U.S.
Most Zika cases contacted directly through mosquito bites in Florida are in the Miami area, not the tourist mecca of Orlando which is home to the Walt Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld theme parks.
One of the traps that tested positive was at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, where bromeliads bloom.
The poll of 1,211 adults conducted August 18-24 has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Poll respondents identifying as Democrats were more likely than Republicans or independents to view Zika funding as a top priority for Congress, according to the poll. The plants trap standing water in their cylindrical centers, providing excellent breeding areas for mosquitoes amid their colorful flowers and pointy leaves.
“We still need the federal government to show up”, Scott told reporters recently in Miami.
The first reported case of zika virus in Malaysia has led to new measures aimed at limiting its spread from Singapore. That stopgap funding will run out at the end of the month, she warned. “What we need is a bipartisan agreement”.
“As it has been from the beginning, our goal is to eliminate the cycle of transmission by eliminating the mosquitoes”, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez said in the news release. Burwell said any Zika bill has to make special provision for Puerto Rico, which has been most severely affected.
Florida officials said more than 40,000 mosquitoes had been tested since May, and that the three samples were the first to test positive.
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Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale and Mike Stobbe from NY.
