Florida probes suspected local Zika cases
Four cases could mean shift in disease’s course; FDA seeks a halt to blood donations
Florida health officials are going doorto-door to investigate two more Zika infections that may have been spread by local mosquitoes, bringing the total number of suspected local cases to four.
Although officials haven’t yet confirmed how the infections were contracted, the spread of Zika among native mosquitoes would be a major change in the course of the disease in the continental U.S., where all cases until now have been linked to travel to Zika-affected regions.
The four Florida cases under investigation are in Broward or Miami-Dade counties, according to the state health department.
Because of the risk of a local Zika outbreak, the Food and Drug Administration asked all blood donation centers in MiamiDade, Broward and surrounding areas to stop accepting blood donations until the blood can be tested.
Blood collection centers across the USA also shouldn’t accept any blood donations from people who have traveled to MiamiDade and Broward counties within the past four weeks, the FDA added.
About 1,400 people in the continental U.S. have been diagnosed with Zika after traveling or, in 15 cases, having sex with a traveler, according to the CDC. Both men and women can spread the virus sexually, although the vast majority of infections are caused by mosquito bites.
Zika, which can cause devastating birth defects, is spreading much more widely in U.S. territories, with more than 3,700 cases in Puerto Rico alone. Four hundred pregnant women in the continental U.S. have been diagnosed with Zika, along with 378 in the territories.
The actual number of infections could be much higher, said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Hous- ton. Only one in five people with Zika develop symptoms, which include rash, fever, muscle aches and headaches, according to the CDC. So most people with the infection don’t know it.
Public health departments don’t have the money to test everyone for Zika, so many cases are never detected, Hotez said.
“Remember for every imported case being reported, there are dozens of others not being reported,” Hotez said. “The numbers, I believe, are highly unreliable due to under reporting and under testing.”
Florida public health staff will collect urine samples from residents to test for the virus as a way to gauge how many people are infected. Health officials also are giving out Zika prevention kits and mosquito repellent.
Health officials have warned the virus is likely to spread to the continental U.S., although they’ve said any outbreaks are likely to be relatively small, given Americans’ widespread use of air conditioning and window screens.