Officials say a Clark County woman in her 60s contracted the virus while she was traveling in Central America, a region listed in Zika travel advisories by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Advertisement
“If investigations reveal additional areas of likely active transmission, the department will announce a defined area of concern”, she said in a statement.
Statewide, there are now 461 travel-related infections of Zika, 33 nontravel-related infections and 63 infections involving pregnant women.
While the Zika virus has mild or negligible effects in most people, it can be devastating in pregnancy because it can damage the brain of a developing fetus, leading to babies born with unusually small heads, a condition called microcephaly.
“Tourism is a driving force of Florida’s economy and this industry has the full support of our state in the fight against the Zika virus”, said Scott.
The borough posted a notice on its website on Monday indicating that the Zika virus had been detected in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.
Two Zika cases have been linked to Miami Beach, according to an email sent by the city manager to local officials. The Department of Health believes active transmission of the mosquito-borne virus is only taking place in the Miami-Wynwood cluster, according to the release.
ADPH is encouraging medical professionals to abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria regarding testing individuals for Zika, said Dr. Jim McVay, ADPH director of the bureau of health promotion and chronic disease.
Aerial spraying and door-to-door operations on the ground have cut mosquito populations in Wynwood by up to 90 per cent, but Zika may be continuing as mosquitoes breed, Frieden told reporters Friday. The first case involved a 50-year-old man who had recently traveled to the Caribbean.
Up until now, the only specified zone in the USA was in the Wynwood neighborhood north of downtown Miami.
The CDC recommends that pregnant women in any trimester avoid travel to any area where Zika virus is spreading.
However, while Florida continues to experience a high number of travel-related Zika cases, officials from the state department of health said the in-state transmissions of Zika was limited to a small area, with possible infection between people in “close proximity” to one another, the New York Times reported. Only Aedes species of mosquitoes are known to spread Zika.
Advertisement
Haiti and Guatemala join 17 other countries that have documented Zika-linked microcephaly cases, including the United States.
