Florida Governor Rick Scott on Monday announced that Florida’s Department of Health (DOH) identified an additional 10 people who have contracted the Zika virus in Miami, likely through a mosquito bite. “Their team will consist of public health experts whose role is to augment our response efforts to confirmed local transmissions of the Zika virus”. Among the 10 new individuals announced today, six are asymptomatic and were identified from the door-to-door community survey [that’s code for pandemic martial law drill] that DOH is conducting.
Advertisement
The CDC says men and women who have visited this area since June 15 should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive. They said Tuesday, July 19, 2016, lab tests confirm a person in the Miami area is infected with the Zika virus, and there may not be any connection to someone traveling outside the country.
According to Gov. Rick Scott, ten more people have caught Zika from Florida mosquitoes.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told “CBS This Morning” that the Florida cases were “not at all unexpected given the number of travel-related cases that we know are in the United States, many of which are in Florida”.
Zika has been associated with the birth defect microcephaly, which can cause children to be born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. The White House said the CDC team would be deployed to Florida “in short order”.
Frieden said most people with Zika do not show any symptoms.
The CDC is expected to issue a “notice to women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to avoid unnecessary travel to the impacted area that is just north of downtown Miami”, Scott added.
“We don’t expect widespread transmission in the continental U.S. If, however, we were to see continuing spread in this area or somewhere else, or explosive spread, then we would absolutely issue travel guidance”, Frieden said in a call to reporters last week.
In a written statement he said: “Florida has a proven track record of success when it comes to managing similar mosquito-borne viruses. I don’t think my business is going to be effected by Zika”.
The area, identified by Florida health officials, touches on the Wynwood, Midtown and Design District neighborhoods in Miami, popular with tourists.
Advertisement
More than 1,600 Zika cases have been reported in the USA, but previously all cases have been linked to travel to affected areas or sexual contact with an infected person.
