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Third area in Florida sees local transmission of Zika
A third area of Florida has seen local transmission of the Zika virus by infected mosquitoes, the state’s governor said.
As part of its ongoing surveillance, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) discovered that five people were infected by mosquito bites in a 1-square mile area on the north side of Miami, Gov. Rick Scott announced. The area encompasses Miami’s Little River neighborhood and is just north of Little Haiti.
Aedes aegypti mosquito
Source: CDC
Scott said it was urgent that some of the federal funding approved last month for Zika response reach Florida, which remains the only state so far to have documented local transmission of the virus.
“It has been 2 weeks since federal funding to fight Zika was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama,” Scott said. “However, Florida has not yet received a dime. We don’t need bureaucratic timelines — we need funding now.
Currently, the DOH has evidence that Zika is being actively transmitted in only two places — this new area of Miami, and also a stretch of Miami Beach, where investigators have actually found infected mosquitoes.
The DOH does not believe the virus is being transmitted by infected mosquitoes anymore in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, which was the first area of the U.S. to see local transmission earlier this year.
As it did with the Wynwood and Miami Beach outbreaks, the CDC warned pregnant women to avoid the newly discovered zone of transmission because of the birth defects associated with Zika virus infection.
The DOH said two women and three men have been infected in the new area, including three who live there and two who either work in the area or have visited it. – by Gerard Gallagher
Disclosures: Scott is the governor of Florida.