There’s no official warning to stay clear of Florida, but the crowds that usually wander among the bold street murals in Miami’s trendy Wynwood arts district may be thinner after reports that mosquitoes in the area have spread the Zika virus on the USA mainland for the first time.
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The four Miami area cases are the first believed to have been infected by mosquitoes in the continental US -a scenario that USA health officials have been expecting and girding for this summer, as populations of the mosquitoes that can carry Zika swell.
US health officials said the USA might see small clusters of infections.
Health investigators in South Florida are going from house to house looking for places where mosquitoes can breed, stepping up efforts to prevent the Zika virus from spreading.
The CDC has told pregnant women in the USA not to visit the 60-plus countries and territories where Zika is prevalent.
“They can use their non-refundable airline tickets for up to a year”, said Nowak.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration called on blood centers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to stop collecting blood until they can test all individual donations for Zika.
The Ohio Department of Health has confirmed 27 cases of Zika in Ohio.
The Miami cases apparently were infected in early July; they became sick a week later and were diagnosed shortly after, Frieden said on the call. “The infections occurred in a small area where officials are aggressively targeting mosquitoes”.
“We know this virus is most detrimental to expecting mothers”, he [Florida Gov. Rick Scott] said.
According to Dr. Frank Welch, Medical Director for the department’s Bureau of Community Preparedness, the four cases in Florida are not unexpected. “But we do not believe that there will be a widespread outbreak”.
Florida health officials publicly disclosed the first case of suspected local transmission on July 19.
There are still many unknowns about the virus, but scientists now know for sure that it can cause severe birth defects in unborn babies. Anyone recently traveling to and from areas with Zika outbreaks should avoid giving blood for safety reasons.
It’s a mosquito-borne illness that has spread to epidemic levels in parts of the southern hemisphere. Repellents and sprays containing DEET are among the most effective, the CDC advises.
Worldwide health officials have found a connection between pregnant women contracting the virus and a birth defect called microcephaly. But other methods of Zika transmission, such as travel to a stricken country or sex with an infected person, have been ruled out. People also report fever, muscle aches and red eyes while others don’t remember any symptoms at all.
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MERS is the SARS-related virus that’s killing people in the Middle East – and the government of Saudi Arabia, where most of the outbreak is happening, has been reticent about releasing information on infections and deaths. Doctors also say evidence suggests that once infected with the Zika virus people develop an immunity.
