The US Food and Drug Administration has told blood centres in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to suspend collections until they can screen each unit of blood for the Zika virus with authorised tests.
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Of the four people infected, he said: “They are all active Zika cases and have not exhibited symptoms to be admitted to the hospital”.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been informed by the state of Florida that Zika virus infections in four people were likely caused by bites of local Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
What you should know about Zika virusMore than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the US, but the four patients in Florida would be the first not linked to travel outside the USA mainland.
Following the reports of the possibility they had acquired the virus locally, health officials had been testing the mosquito population in the area.
Health officials have warned of possible localized Zika outbreaks in the United States, particularly since the virus has spread quickly throughout Latin America and the Caribbean in the past two years.
Of those cases, 15 are believed to be the result of sexual transmission, and one was the result of a laboratory exposure, the CDC said.
The virus is contracted either through mosquito bites, sexual contact with an infected person or transmission in utero to a newborn. While the virus does not cause serious complications in adults, it can cause severe brain defects and microcephaly in newborns. Officials are also collecting mosquitoes in the area for testing.
Some medical experts said pregnant women should not travel to the Miami area, especially if it involves spending time outdoors. “We’re conducting this investigation as we would other mosquito-borne viruses, such as dengue (fever)”, Mara Gambineri, communications director for the Florida Department of Health, wrote in an email to CNN.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has provided Florida $8 million in Zika-specific funding, and the White House has said the state can anticipate receiving another $5.6 million in Zika funding through a grant. Florida now can test 6,609 people for the active Zika virus and 2,059 people for Zika antibodies.
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Among the other measures taken, a Mosquito Declaration will be issued, guaranteeing that counties will have the resources needed to combat further local transmission. The CDC and Florida health department expect that mosquito control efforts in the last week would have limited chances for more people to become infected.
