NY and Florida have the most cases of travel-related Zika infections nationally – many reportedly associated with travel to the Dominican Republic – but the mosquito-borne transmissions in Florida are a first. “Those would be women that are pregnant or planning to get pregnant, because Zika virus could cause the fetal abnormalities”, says Russo.
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“We’ve never had a mosquito-borne disease that can cause a birth defect”, explains Tom Friedan, director of the Center for Disease Control.
“Obviously, microcephaly is a awful prenatal condition that kids are born with”, Rubio tells Politico.
While Zika virus is transmitted primarily by mosquito bites, it also can be sexually transmitted, Dr. Goje says. “My advice is to avoid affected areas”.
After that initial group, cities in Texas, starting with Houston and followed by Dallas, are the next group at most risk.
A square mile of Miami has been declared a no-go zone for pregnant women to protect developing fetuses. “That’s why we take it so seriously”. If you travel out of the country, carry mosquito netting and plenty of repellant.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Scott criticised the USA administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for not getting involved quicker. There have been 16 documented cases in Miami so far.
Nationally, some 1,800 travel-associated Zika infections have been reported to date, with many times that number reported in the USA territory of Puerto Rico – where officials say 10 percent of the population may already be infected – and throughout many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Obama administration has requested $1.9 billion from Congress to develop a vaccine and control mosquitoes.
Health officials encourage women who are pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant to delay or cancel travel to an area where mosquitoes are transmitting the virus.
“The most fearful thing is, I don’t want to have a child with some of the severe cerebral defects that are being talked about, including microcephaly”, Acero said.
The threat has prompted federal health officials to warn against travel into a particularly hard-hit Miami-area neighborhood, an unprecedented move domestically that draws attention to the seriousness of the threat.
Most adults who test positive for Zika usually report mild or no symptoms, but people who have the disease without knowing it can accidentally help create more Zika hot spots in other states. And now doctors understand that the virus-when present in a pregnant woman-is linked to microcephaly in infants.
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Nevertheless, CDC maps show that the range of the mosquitoes and spread of the disease follow a route along Interstate 95 and into the population centers from the southeast to the northeast, with Virginia along the way.
