“This find is disappointing, but not surprising”, said Adam Putnam, commissioner of agriculture. “Florida is among the best in the nation when it comes to mosquito surveillance and control, and this detection enables us to continue to effectively target our resources”.
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The bugs carrying Zika were collected within the 1.5-square-mile zone on Miami Beach that the state already considers an area of local Zika transmission, because people there with the virus likely got it from mosquitoes.
Carlos Varas, a Miami-Dade County mosquito control inspector, sprays pesticide to kill mosquitos in the Miami Beach neighborhood on August 24, 2016, as the county fights to control a Zika virus outbreak. The plants trap standing water in their cylindrical centers, providing excellent breeding areas for mosquitoes amid their colorful flowers and pointy leaves.
He said Miami Beach is removing all bromeliads from its landscaping, and urged residents across the county to either pull them out or rinse them after every rain.
Florida Governor Rick Scott on Thursday called on the state department of health (DOH) to step up Zika prevention efforts.
A pregnant woman was among those diagnosed with Zika infections in Singapore, as the number of confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus in the city-state rose to 115.
The illness spreads from people to mosquitoes to people again through bites, but the insects do not spread the disease among their own population, and their lifespan is just a few weeks.
“This is a disease that spreads through the mosquito vector and obviously in urban settings like ours where people are living much closer together”.
Zika has made the most significant impact in the Miami-Dade area, where local transmissions started occurring in July.
But Miami is a major tourism draw, with more than 15.5 million people making overnight visits to the city and its nearby beaches a year ago.
Officials said they are not considering asking restaurants and bars in the area to temporarily close outdoor dining areas, but they will increase spraying, trapping and testing.
Three of the new cases were in other parts of Singapore away from the original cluster that affected the Aljunied Crescent and Sims Drive areas in the central eastern part of Singapore. “The CDC director once told me this is the cockroach of mosquitoes, that it will find a way somehow to breed”.
A third of people surveyed in the poll believe Congress should make approving more funds to combat Zika a top priority.
The U.S. Congress has failed to reach an agreement on emergency Zika funding after President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion for mosquito control, development of vaccines and diagnostics and other efforts to combat Zika. Dengue is not spread by sex, like Zika, but mosquitoes are responsible for the vast majority of Zika cases globally.
State officials said 95 additional samples submitted by Miami-Dade County have tested negative for the mosquito-borne virus.
“If there was broad circulation of this virus in Asia, then it could be that the risk of Zika spreading to Asia won’t be as bad as we think”, Goorhuis said.
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Gimenez emphasized that the finding of these mosquitoes will not change current efforts to fight the virus and the mosquitoes that carry it.
