Given the association between Zika virus and the elevated risk of serious health effects on unborn children, it is recommended that pregnant women avoid travel to areas where Zika virus is presently circulating.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also suggested that pregnant women who are especially anxious about exposure to Zika – which has been shown to cause the severe birth defect known as microcephaly – might consider avoiding all of Miami-Dade County.
Florida officials have faced questions about why it took so long to announce the new Zika transmission zone, with some critics accusing the governor of delaying the announcement to avoid scaring off visitors crucial to the state’s lucrative tourism industry.
Scott said the tourist industry drives the state economy and called on Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulations, or DBPR, “to work closely with hotels, attractions, and restaurants in Miami-Dade County to connect them with resources for Zika prevention and education”.
“This is the second area that has been identified as a location where local transmission is occurring and is just under 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers)”, he said.
The city manager of Miami Beach has told local officials that two Zika cases are linked to the community.
The first case of Zika Virus has been found in Ventura County, health officials said Friday.
In a statement late Thursday, Morales said Florida’s Department of Health was investigating Zika cases in Miami Beach but no infections were confirmed.
“You knew it was going to intermingle all over the place”, he said.
Zika, which has extended through a large part of Latin America and the Caribbean, can cause pregnant women to have babies with microcephalic deformity and neurological problems. The recommendations are based on observations that the virus can live in semen as long as 93 days after an infection, but a recent report in the journal Eurosurveillence described two cases in which the virus lingered in semen six months after a person was infected. In addition, the area’s large crowds mean more people are likely to be exposed, and few in the tourist-heavy beach community are likely to follow recommendations to wear long sleeves and trousers, Frieden said. “That’s scary for us because we eventually want to have more kids”.
Three vacuum trucks purchased to help Miami Beach fight rising sea levels have been used since the beginning of the year to drain water in low-lying areas where mosquitoes could breed, said Roy Coley, the city’s infrastructure director.
So far, Florida is the only U.S. state that has reported local Zika transmission by mosquitoes. These were individual cases and did not represent local transmission.
She said the investigation into the new cases concluded this morning. As a result, there may be a time lag in reporting the spread of disease locally. In its statement Friday, the agency said pregnant women may also want to consider postponing nonessential travel throughout Miami-Dade County if they’re concerned about potential exposure to the mosquito-borne virus.
“All three of these people traveled to Miami”, Scott said.
Florida officials have been working to contain the virus’s spread by curbing the state’s mosquito population, but the CDC says techniques like aerial spraying won’t work in the high-rises of Miami beach. He said aerial spraying can not be conducted because of Miami Beach’s high-rise buildings.
Officials at Art Basel Miami Beach and other upcoming events cautiously expressed confidence in the region’s mosquito control efforts.
Scott and Florida Surgeon General Dr.
Mr. Scott minimized the extent of the spread.
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Among them was a circus brought in by a brewery, he said.
