Zika cases likely from Florida mosquitoes
Four victims would be first infected by domestic insects
Four people infected with Zika in South Florida likely contracted the virus from local mosquitoes, marking the first time the disease has been transmitted by the insects in the continental U. S., Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Friday.
Florida’s Department of Health believes the mosquitoes that transmitted the virus are active in a small area just north of downtown Miami, Scott said at a news conference in Orlando. No mosquitoes in the state have tested positive for Zika, he added.
The four patients work in the same area, although not at the same company, and are not related, said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention.
“All the evidence we have seen indicates that this is mosquito- borne transmission that occurred several weeks ago in several blocks in Miami,” he said.
More than 1,650 people in the U. S. have contracted Zika, but until now all were linked to travel outside the U. S. Zika, which can cause devastating birth defects, is spreading rapidly in more than 30 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America.
The virus primarily spreads through bites from infected mosquitoes but can also be spread through sex. Only one in five people with Zika develop symptoms, which include rash and fever.
“If you live in this area and want to be tested, I urge you to contact the county health department, which stands ready to assist you,” he said.
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Adam Putnam called on residents to eliminate standing water around their homes, get rid of old tires in their yards that could hold water and make good use of insect repellant.
The CDC also said Zika could affect up to 10,000 pregnant women in Puerto Rico. It is spreading so quickly there that it could infect one in four people by year’s end, Frieden said.