In response to the Zika virus being transmitted in Florida, health officials recommend pregnant women to not travel in the area of Miami-Dade County. Gov. Rick Scott said the new locally acquired infection is in Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater. The remaining four cases were in the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, where the first cases of transmission by local mosquitoes were reported earlier this month.
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He says the fifth was diagnosed in a Pinellas County resident who hasn’t traveled internationally.
The current Zika outbreak was first detected past year in Brazil, where the virus has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, which can cause severe developmental problems.
The Lenawee case comes more than a week after health officials confirmed the first case in Monroe County.
MI health officials said pregnant women should be especially cautious if traveling or if their partner is traveling to the known Zika region. The virus can cause severe birth defects including severely small heads in children who are infected while in the womb.
Reporting Aug. 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors believe that a blood donor passed along the typically mosquito-borne virus in late January to two hospitalized patients who needed transfusions. Pinellas County is 265 miles northeast of Miami, so the new case may reflect the widespread presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito – the primary vector of Zika – in Florida. Florida is the first US state to experience local transmission of Zika.
Things are much worse in the USA territory of Puerto Rico, where federal health officials have declared a public health emergency because Zika is spreading so rapidly among residents there.
Most of the thousands of Zika infections recorded globally have so far occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Brazil is by far the country hit hardest by Zika, with thousands of cases of microcephaly so far reported. Additionally, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine are calling for more federal resources to help control the virus’ spread. The new cases in Miami and Pinellas County bring Florida’s total of confirmed locally transmitted Zika cases to 42.
Couples are encouraged to use condoms or to not have sex whatsoever, as sexual transmission of the disease is also possible.
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This Q & A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.
