Florida health officials recently announced they were investigating four cases of the Zika virus that don’t appear to be related to travel.
“Evidence is mounting to suggest local transmission via mosquitoes is going on in South Florida,” said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said, according to Reuters. “These cases fit similar transmission patterns for mosquito-borne diseases such as Chikungunya that we’ve seen in South Florida in years past.”
To verify if Zika is being passed on locally, epidemiologists must survey homes with an infection and neighbors within a 150-yard radius, the range of the mosquitoes that transport the virus.
The federal Zika response plan classifies Zika transmission as two or more instances not a consequence of travel or sex with an infected person that take place in a 1-mile diameter in a single month. Proof of the virus in native mosquito populations may also be used to confirm local transmission.
Florida is Looking into the New Cases
Florida officials said they started investigating the new cases and the state is calling for both residents and visitors in the investigation areas to provide urine specimens. The outcomes of these tests will help the department figure out the how many people have been affected.
Along with the four potential instances of non-travel related transmission, Florida officials reported nearly 330 travel-related instances of Zika. The state is currently tracking 53 pregnant women who were confirmed to have the virus.
Health officials said they were puzzled the other day when they found a caretaker had caught Zika after looking after a dying elderly man with the disease. It was said to be the first instance of transmission that didn’t involve mosquitoes or sexual contact.
In February, the World Health Organization announced the Zika virus a global public health emergency because the virus has been associated with acute brain defects in newborns. Infected adults typically exhibit mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
In acute cases, children born from mothers with Zika can die and babies who survive can face intellectual disability and developmental delays.
Thus far, cases outside of Latin America and the Caribbean have been spread by travel to that area or sexual transmission.
—–
Image credit: Thinkstock
Comments