The five cases in Miami Beach involve two local residents and three tourists – hailing from New York, Texas and Taiwan – Florida Governor Rick Scott told a news conference.
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It comes on the heels of Florida Gov. Rick Scott announcing Friday that mosquitoes in the area have infected five people with Zika, including a NY resident.
In issuing the travel advisory, Tom Friedan, the head of the CDC, said Friday that the virus is not necessarily spreading throughout the entire county, but there have been instances of mosquitoes infecting individuals in Miami Beach and Wynwood. A few days later, in an unprecedented move, the CDC announced a travel warning, advising pregnant women not to visit that area.
On Friday August 19, federal health officials advised that all pregnant women and their respective partners hold off on traveling in any part of the tourism hub of Miami-Dade County following an increase in mosquito-born Zika transmission in Miami Beach.
A Miami Beach official says there’s been no confirmation that mosquitoes have spread the Zika virus in the tourism-dependent city.
We have two small areas, he said.
The virus, which has spread rapidly through the Americas since it was first detected in Brazil previous year, can cause the rare birth defect microcephaly, marked by abnormally small heads and developmental problems.
“I mean I just feel like it spread from Wynwood to Miami Beach, cases that we know of”, Beauegard said.
The Florida Department of Health said, “It is very unlikely that Marion County will have a large outbreak of Zika fever”.
The Miami Herald first reported the email. This time it’s in the tourist hot spot Miami Beach.
In other recent Zika news, experts have wondered if the virus might sometimes be transmitted through blood transfusions, and a cluster of infections in Brazil seems to support that notion.
“Pregnant women should see their doctor or other healthcare provider about getting tested for Zika; and people who have a pregnant sex partner should consistently and correctly use condoms to prevent infection during sex or avoid having sex for the duration of the pregnancy”, the CDC said.
“If investigations reveal additional areas of likely active transmission, the department will announce a defined area of concern”, said by Mara Gambineri, a spokeswoman for the health department. So far, five people have gotten Zika from mosquitoes in south Florida. On Aug. 1, it became the first place in the continental United States where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against traveling.
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Earlier this month Florida began aerial spraying of insecticides to kill mosquitoes in the Wynwood neighborhood.
