Zika alert to women travelling to Florida

PREGNANT women have been advised to consider postponing non-essential trips to Florida amid growing concerns over the Zika virus.

The official warning from Public Health England came after authorities in the southern US state confirmed four new cases of the disease, thought to have been transmitted by local mosquitoes.

More than 1,650 cases of Zika have now been diagnosed in the US, but this is understood to be the first time the disease has been spread by indigenous insects, rather than as a result of foreign travel or sexual contact.

The updated advice reads: ‘The risk in Florida is considered moderate based on the number and spread of cases.

‘Pregnant women should consider postponing nonessential travel to affected areas until after the pregnancy.’

It comes just days before the Brazil Olympics are set to kick off in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has confirmed over 1,700 cases of microcephaly linked to Zika, sparking fears over the impact it will have on the Games.

Zika causes only a mild illness in most people, but in pregnant women the infection has been strongly linked to foetal microcephaly, or abnormal smallness of the head in babies, and other severe birth defects.

In the UK, the number treated for the infection reached 53 last week after three more cases emerged in Yorkshire.