USA health officials have warned pregnant women to avoid the area of Miami Beach, Florida, after receiving confirmation that the Zika virus is active in the popular tourist destination.
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“Pregnant women are at the greatest risk because of the risk of microcephaly and other serious birth defects”, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says.
“We don’t think our advice to wear long sleeves and long trousers is likely to be widely followed in some of these areas”, Frieden said.
Friday’s developments bring the total number of locally transmitted cases in Florida to 36.
Ottawa is recommending that pregnant women and women who plan to get pregnant avoid travelling to South Florida after more cases of Zika virus linked to mosquitoes were reported in the area. The tourists are residents of New York, Texas and Taiwan.
“This means we believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring in Miami Beach”, he said, noting that Florida had already stepped up pesticide-spraying efforts in this area.
In a highly unusual travel warning, health officials advised pregnant women to avoid a part of Miami where mosquitoes are apparently transmitting Zika directly to humans.
Health officials are also concerned because the city of Miami is considered a major destination and transit point for people traveling from Latin America, where the virus has been spreading since last summer. It is most risky to pregnant women, due to the virus’ link to microcephaly, a devastating birth defect where babies are born with smaller than normal heads and underdeveloped brains.
In a separate statement Thursday, Florida health officials said they believe active Zika transmissions remain limited to a previously identified zone encompassing Miami’s Wynwood neighbourhood.
The governor has also reached out to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, as well as the DOH to work with hotels and restaurants on Zika education. Florida is so far the only state in the mainland USA where that has been reported. “If they want to protect the people in the state, they should spray that park too”, said nearby resident Alberto Gonzales. He’s requesting 5,000 more testing supplies, more lab personnel and 10,000 prevention kits for pregnant women. Statewide, a total of 577 people in Florida have contracted the disease, mostly through travel overseas, according to the health department.
Earlier this year, the Defense Department ordered heightened monitoring for the aedes aegypti mosquito at military installations in 27 states and the District of Columbia in response to the Zika crisis.
In the vast majority of other Zika cases in the US, people were infected while traveling in hot zones in the Caribbean and Latin America or through sex with an infected partner. Although death is rare, one out of five people infected with Zika can become very ill, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Like West Nile virus, Zika is primarily transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. Brazil, especially, has reported the vast majority of cases of Zika-linked microcephaly.
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Scott said his state is taking aggressive steps to fight the virus, but says his repeated calls for help are being ignored.
