There have been no reported cases of the Zika virus being contracted from a mosquito bite in the state, the Department of Health said.
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“Yesterday, I directed the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to work closely with hotels, attractions, and restaurants in Miami-Dade County to connect them with resources for Zika prevention and education”, said the governor. Previously, officials had pinpointed local infections in a one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami known as Wynwood.
The new cases involve three tourists and two local residents, Scott said during a news conference.
Scott said the new area is under 1.5 square miles in size and that mosquito control officials were spraying in an effort to reduce the population of the Aedes aegyti mosquito that spreads the Zika virus.
CDC updates interim guidance for the evaluation and management of infants with possible congenital Zika virus infection: Today, CDC updated its interim guidance for US health care providers caring for infants born to mothers with possible Zika virus infection during pregnancy.
Men with Zika should wait at least 6 months after symptoms start before couples try to get pregnant.
U.S. Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat, said the transmission of Zika in Miami Beach “is the most alarming development yet in the rapidly growing threat of Zika in the United States”.
A Texan infected with the Zika virus has been confirmed in Midland County in West Texas.
The CDC also advised pregnant women and their sexual partners to consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade County. Two babies in California were recently born with microcephaly, a birth defect that can be caused by Zika.
But Gov. Rick Scott said the state does not plan to advise people to stay away from the beaches, nightclubs and pedestrian thoroughfares that form the heart of South Florida’s travel industry. After aggressive testing in the Wynwood area, today DOH is able to clear three additional blocks of the Northeastern area of Wynwood because there is no continued evidence of active transmission.
Dr. Tom Frieden says planes can’t fly low enough among Miami Beach’s high-rises to spray pesticides that kill mosquitoes and their larvae.
Also on Friday, new research showed that Zika can cause brain damage in adults. Florida is so far the only state in the mainland USA where that has been reported.
The spread of Zika in the Miami area has raised alarms that visitors may avoid the popular tourist resort.
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Santa Cruz County health services officials are working with authorities to keep an eye on mosquito breeding areas and are draining standing water.
