The city health department Wednesday urged women who are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant to delay travel to areas affected by the virus.
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This individual has not traveled to an area where the virus is circulating. New York City’s deputy mayor of health and human services says the city has been preparing for this eventuality for months due to New York’s many immigrants and global travelers.
The Arizona Department of Health said that Culex vector is found here, and is typically responsible for spreading West Nile virus.
The funds are part of $60 million that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is awarding to states, cities and territories to fight Zika. A senior epidemiologist from the CDC will arrive in Florida on Friday.
Miami-Dade County has the most confirmed infections in Florida with 89, but so far all have involved someone who traveled outside the USA mainland to areas with Zika outbreaks, such as Latin America and the Caribbean.
It will also support participation in a program to monitor pregnant women with Zika and their infants.
“The thing that’s concerning is if you get a local case, which means that your mosquitoes locally may be carrying the virus”, she added.
Seven of those cases were newly reported Thursday in the state’s daily Zika update. Zika infection can also be spread through sexual contact.
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If confirmed, the two cases – one reported in Broward County on Thursday and one in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday – would be the first locally acquired cases of the virus in the continental United States. Women who are pregnant should avoid travel to areas with known outbreaks and having unprotected sex with partners who have. The virus is typically transmitted through the bite of Aedes mosquitoes.
