“…Now that Florida has become the first state to have a local transmission, likely through a mosquito, we will continue to put every resource available to fighting the spread of Zika in our state”. PHE has said the risk in the southern USA state was moderate, while in many countries in South America, including Olympics host Brazil, it was high.
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It comes after health officials in the USA discovered four cases of the virus, which it is feared were contracted from mosquitoes inside America and are not linked to foreign travel. All four of Florida’s cases – two in Miami-Dade County and two in Broward County – are active Zika cases, but none of the people infected have exhibited symptoms to be admitted to the hospital.
“We’re being very aggressive at testing people there. we are testing the mosquitoes there, and we spraying to make sure it’s contained”, Scott said, adding that health officials do not think that the transmission was ongoing.
While health officials have yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the virus, the state has ruled out other means of transmission, including travel to another country with a Zika outbreak, and sexual contact.
These would not, however, be the first cases of person-to-person Zika transmission within the US.
Zika virus spreads to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus), but can also be spread during sex by a person infected with Zika to their partner.
The state officials and the CDC said that now the area where the Zika the cases have been detected is just limited to the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami.
Florida, a popular holiday destination for Britons, reported four cases of local transmission on Friday.
However, mosquito control measures such as air conditioning, use of window and door screens and bug repellent are likely to prevent Zika from becoming established in the United States. Most people infected with Zika won’t have symptoms, but for those who do, the illness is usually mild.
There is no treatment or preventive vaccine for Zika, and, with the Rio Olympics due to start next weekend in the midst of a continental Zika crisis, the United Kingdom authorities recently advised pregnant women to avoid travelling to the Games. A total of 69 cases of travel-related Zika have been reported by the Health Department.
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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that it would not recommend limiting travel to Florida. She says she has been following the Zika virus in the news ever since she and her husband Wes were invited to a wedding in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos earlier this summer. Local, state, and federal officials, however, are continuing their investigation to see if there are more cases.
