At least four people – three men and one woman – have been infected through local transmission so far, officials said. “At present, only a zone of about 1 square mile in Miami-Dade County is considered at risk of active transmission”. But until Friday, health officials said cases stemmed from people who were infected because of travel to places such as South America, where the virus emerged previous year. 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.
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Or there may be no symptoms at all – according to the CDC, many people do not exhibit any signs of having the Zika virus at all.
The state of Florida, the first to report the arrival of Zika in the continental United States, has yet to invite a dedicated team of the federal government’s disease hunters to assist with the investigation on the ground, health officials told Reuters.
Public Health England, in its updated travel advice, has now warned about the threat faced to Brits bound to Florida and said: “The risk in Florida is considered moderate based on the number and spread of cases and their demonstrated ability to implement effective control measures for similar diseases such as dengue – a virus transmitted by the same mosquito”.
“All the evidence we have seen indicates that this is mosquito-borne transmission that occurred several weeks ago in several blocks in Miami”, said Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control.
With the Zika virus – a mosquito-borne virus that can cause serious birth defects if pregnant women contract it – reaching epidemic proportions in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean islands, it was only a matter of time before it reached the continental United States. No additional travel-associated or locally acquired human cases of the Zika virus have been officially reported to GCHD.
Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Adam Putnam, said, “We are dedicated to protecting Floridians and visitors from Zika and will continue to support mosquito control programs throughout Florida with their surveillance and control efforts. Our top priority is to protect pregnant women from the potentially devastating harm caused by Zika”.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking blood centers in two Florida counties to immediately stop collections.
As a result, the FDA has temporarily banned blood donation in two Florida counties. Florida health officials said that four patients in Florida infected with the Zika virus were infected in the Wynwood area.
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– Coordinate with OB/GYNs and organizations that serve pregnant woman in the impacted area to distribute Zika prevention kits to pregnant women.
