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Zika case in Texas linked to Miami travel
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Health officials in Texas have reported the first case of Zika virus linked to travel within the continental United States.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) said a resident of El Paso County tested positive for Zika after visiting an area of Miami where mosquitoes are believed to be transmitting the virus. The department linked the case to Miami after reviewing the patient’s travel history and symptom onset date.
“This is the first Texas case to be linked to travel within the continental United States. The case will be classified as ‘travel-associated’ and is being investigated for more details,” the TDSHS said in a news release.
It is the first case of Zika in the Texas county, which borders Mexico, but the virus has been in Texas since at least January, when the first travel-related case was confirmed.
Texas has reported 109 infections so far — with only New York and Florida reporting more cases in the U.S. On Aug. 9, health officials in Harris County, Texas, announced the second Zika-related death in the continental U.S. in an infant who died shortly after being born with birth defects, including microcephaly.
In Florida, health officials said they believe Zika is still only being transmitted by mosquitoes in one small area of Miami just north of downtown encompassing the neighborhood of Wynwood. Earlier this month the state was the first in the continental U.S. to report cases of locally acquired Zika, leading the CDC to warn pregnant women not to travel to the affected area.
As of Monday, the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) said there were 30 such cases of the virus linked to the 1 square mile area in Miami. The FDOH said it was investigating several other areas in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties where local transmission may have occurred.
The TDSHS said it was on alert for the possibility of local transmission and urged Texas residents who have traveled to places where mosquitoes are spreading the virus to guard against being bitten when they return.
“To avoid infecting local mosquitoes, people who travel to areas with active Zika transmission should apply insect repellent every time they go outside for at least 3 weeks after they return to Texas — and longer if they develop an illness that could be Zika,” the department said in a news release.
To avoid mosquito bites, the department said residents should use only Environmental Protection Agency-approved insect repellent, cover exposed skin with pants or long sleeves, use screens or close windows to keep mosquitoes out of their homes, remove standing water where mosquitoes lay eggs, and cover trash cans or containers where water can collect. – by Gerard Gallagher
Perspective
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Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD
While there is concern about the Zika-infected individual traveling from Miami to El Paso, Texas, the likelihood is that on any given day hundreds of people are traveling from known Zika-endemic zones to gateway cities in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Some estimates suggest that tens of thousands of people with Zika are now in the United States, so that areas where we already have Aedes aegypti mosquitoes such as the states listed here may start seeing Zika virus transmission during this month of August and into September. A big concern is that we are not doing much in the way of active surveillance for Zika in the at-risk states so that Zika transmission may have already started but we could be missing it.
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