The Centers for Disease Control announced Friday that four cases of the Zika virus in Florida were likely transmitted from US mosquito bites.
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Alabama Department of Public Health officials say all 15 cases are travel-related and involve people who got the Zika virus while in another country.
Brazil, the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics, has the highest number of infections, with over 1,700 cases of microcephaly in the South American country.
No mosquitoes in Florida have tested positive for the Zika virus to date, Scott said.
The four Florida cases are contained to a small area north of downtown Miami, Scott said, quoting state health officials.
People who travel to areas where the virus is active should take precaution against getting mosquito bites, according to health officials.
The West Nile technician with Cumberland County Public Safety said they’ve set up additional Zika traps in urban areas.
The FDA previously advised USA blood banks to refuse donations from people who recently travelled to areas outside the country that have Zika outbreaks.
Florida now has 96 cases of the Zika virus as of July 28.
To confirm whether Zika is being carried by mosquitoes locally, scientists are surveying houses and people within a 150-yard radius of the cases, the flying distance of the insect.
“Florida is aggressively working to reduce mosquitoes in the area of the reported cases”, Frieden said.
What long-term effects, if any, could the virus have on women planning to get pregnant years from now?
“The infection can be passed to their fetus, their growing developing fetus and create very serious birth defects and issues with brain development”, Saddler said. However, imported cases into the county increase the chance of local spread to humans by mosquitoes, Williamson County officials said.
Finding mosquitoes with Zika is not an easy task.
Women living in that area of Miami who are pregnant or considering pregnancy are being urged to contact either their doctors or their county health department for Zika prevention kits. The CDC has reported 14 cases of sexually transmitted infections. “We do continue to caution any pregnant women to not travel to areas where outbreaks are occurring”.
It can take a couple of weeks before an infected person shows symptoms, and by then the mosquitoes that transmitted the virus are dead, she said.
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Meanwhile, three more people have been found to have Zika in the United Kingdom after returning from overseas.
