Well, for now, transmission of Zika appears restricted to just a one-square-mile area in Miami, The New York Times reports.
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The Florida Health Department is giving out Zika prevention kits and advising residents to remove any standing water in their yards and homes, which is where mosquitoes breed.
The four cases of Zika infection in Miami, likely the result of bites from local mosquitoes, may be just the beginning of the spread of the virus in the continental U.S., a health official said Friday.
As for what’s happening in Florida, epidemiologist Dr. Laurie Forlano says it’s not shocking given the mosquito population in the southern region of that state, as well as the travel patterns in Miami, and area’s track record with similar mosquito-borne diseases. “The Department of Health is aggressively testing people in the affected area to ensure there are no other cases of this virus”.
The Florida surgeon general and all the major blood collection industry organizations have been made aware of the request, with the main organization, OneBlood, indicating it had also been made aware of the suspected non-travel-related Zika case still under investigation in South Florida.
But it has been discovered that this is not the only way Zika can be transmitted to humans.
The four cases contracted in Miami-Dade County were brought to the attention of state officials by healthcare workers. “This means Florida has become the first state in the nation to have local transmission of the virus”.
Pregnant women and their partners are advised to use barrier contraception to insure the women aren’t exposed to the virus through sexual contact.
To date, there have been 386 cases of Zika in the state of Florida, including 55 pregnant women. Unfortunately, the U.S.is now one of those countries.
The trust’s infection control lead, Dr Gavin Boyd said: ‘There is extremely low risk of contracting Zika virus in the United Kingdom as the mosquito that transmits the virus is not present in the UK.
Zika has been associated with the birth defect microcephaly, which can cause children to be born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. But the four people in Florida are believed to be first ones to contract the virus within the 50 states from mosquitoes. “It is going to be seeping into America for sure”, said Tom Masterson.
Even for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
“As with most emerging health threats, we learn more about Zika each day, but we recognize that the unknown can be scary, especially for pregnant women”, she said.
“We anticipate that there may be additional cases of “homegrown” Zika in the coming weeks”.
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Zika often causes mild to symptom-less infections in healthy adults.
