California health officials on Friday urged travelers returning home from the Olympics as well as countries where Zika is spreading to continue to wear insect repellent and to practice safe sex for several more weeks, to help prevent the spread of the virus in the Golden State.
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Miami-Dade County officials have been spraying pesticide from planes flying over Miami’s Wynwood arts district since early this month, when Zika transmissions by mosquitoes were confirmed there. As of August 17, there have been 2,260 confirmed USA cases of the virus, but just 14 actively transmitted cases all of which occurred in two areas of Miami, Florida.
Women and men who live in or who have traveled to the designated area of Miami Beach since July 14, 2016 should be aware of active Zika virus transmission; pregnant women should see their doctor or other healthcare provider about getting tested for Zika; and people who have a pregnant sex partner should consistently and correctly use condoms to prevent infection during sex or avoid having sex for the duration of the pregnancy.
Zika is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus).
Scott announced that state officials have identified the infections, which they believe have been transmitted by local mosquitoes, in Miami Beach. It was the first time the CDC had ever advised people to avoid any part of the continental United States because of an infectious disease.
The Wynwood outbreak prompted the CDC to take the unprecedented step of advising pregnant women to stay away from the area.
Levine said during a news conference Friday afternoon that the Zika reports certainly aren’t ideal for tourism, but he expects the long-term impact to be relatively minor. “That’s why we’ve highlighted we are quite concerned about these two areas where we know there has been a spread of Zika through local mosquitoes”.
Across the nation, a travel alert was issued for Florida, where there are 35 cases of local transmission of Zika. “This industry has the full support of our state in the fight against the Zika virus”.
7News cameras captured Florida Health Department officials going door-to-door to keep the mosquito population in check, Saturday. The CDC is now tracking the health of 529 pregnant women within the USA and almost 700 within the territories who have been afflicted with the virus.
“We’ll always err on the side of providing more information to the public”, Frieden told reporters.
Frieden also says the large numbers of residents and visitors in the area will make it challenging to control the spread of Zika there. The number of locally-acquired cases of Zika in Florida has now reached a total of 36.
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President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds in February to develop a vaccine and control the mosquitoes that carry the virus.
