“Pregnant women should consider postponing nonessential travel to affected areas until after the pregnancy”. “All four of these people live in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties and the Florida Department of Health believes that active transmissions of this virus could be occurring in one small area in Miami”. To help protect against mosquito bites people are urged to, “follow the four D’s: Drain – drain standing water; Dress – wear long sleeves and long trousers; DEET – apply insect repellent with DEET; Daily – all day every day”.
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Congress should create a public health contingency fund, which could be used for a variety of emergencies, so that federal health agencies wouldn’t have to wait for lawmakers to approve funding for individual crises, said Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.
NASA scientists examined three key factors – mosquito abundance in the US, global travel to Zika infested regions, and socioeconomic status – that contribute to the spread of Zika virus to understand where and when a potential outbreak may occur.
While health officials have yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the virus, the state has ruled out other means of transmission, including travel to another country with a Zika outbreak, and sexual contact.
The virus causes a mild illness in most people but the risks are greater with pregnant women. The area is under close surveillance and door-to-door outreach is under way there, officials said at a press conference Friday.
State and local officials have also been contracting with local companies to eliminate mosquito habitats through increased spraying, including of aerial liquid larvicide.
Zika is already present in New Jersey, so that type of transmission in theory could happen here as well.
Rick Scott said that the four cases involve three men and one woman.
The US Centre for Disease Control said it did not expect a widespread outbreak of Zika in the country, but is preparing for small clusters of infections.
“We have lost vital months where states and territories could have been building the capacity to control mosquitos, clean up breeding grounds and educate the public”, Gostin said. Although doctors have diagnosed 1,658 Zika cases in the continental USA and Hawaii, until now all the cases were related to travel and, in one case, a lab accident.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1,650 people have been infected with Zika in the United States. On Wednesday, the Health Department announced two more suspected cases in the two counties.
“This is not just a Florida issue”.
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A CDC spokesperson said the question of whether to issue a travel recommendation is “literally a day-by-day decision”.
