Florida health officials are investigating two more cases of Zika virus that may not be linked to travel outside the state, the News Service of Florida reports.
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Two of the Zika cases are in Miami-Dade County and two are in Broward County.
To confirm whether Zika is being transmitted locally, experts look at households and neighbours within a 150-metre radius around the property of the Zika-infected person.
That brings the total of potentially non-travel-related cases to four: two in Broward County and two in Miami-Dade County.
Sexual transmission of zika virus from a male partner is also possible, so travelers are also encouraged to use condoms or not have sex. “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. Residents and visitors are urged to participate in requests for urine samples by the department in the areas of investigation. The symptoms of Zika are typically mild, which makes it even more unsafe because people who are infected often don’t feel sick. Florida officials say they are still looking into the cases and have not come to a conclusion. No other such cases have been identified in the continental U.S. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) continues to closely coordinate with the State of Florida and the Administration has offered Federal support and technical assistance for Florida’s ongoing case investigation and mosquito control efforts.
The four Florida cases have raised the possibility that mosquitoes in the U.S. have begun to carry the virus.
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The research shows how these six antibodies interact with the virus, and that they are specific enough to Zika virus – and not other viruses – that they could be used in diagnostic tests, the researchers said. None of those cases is a result of local mosquito transmission. Fifteen of those individuals were infected by sexual transmission, and there is one case of a laboratory-acquired infection.
