Florida mosquitoes tested for Zika virus
Print Edition
FLORIDA health officials have trapped mosquitoes in an area of Miami-Dade County and are testing them for Zika to confirm whether a woman with the virus could be the first person infected directly by a mosquito bite in continental United States.
Florida’s Department of Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not immediately respond to questions about their investigation, but health officials said the case had no apparent connection to travel outside the US.
The patient is a woman who lives in Miami-Dade County, according to a health official familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Mosquitoes have been trapped in the area of investigation and are being tested,” Health Department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said in an e-mail on Wednesday.
More than 1,300 Zika infections have been reported in the US, none involving bites from local mosquitoes; 14 of these were sexually transmitted, and one lab worker was stuck with a contaminated needle.
Health officials predicted that would change this summer once the virus reaches US mosquitoes and have mobilized to keep Zika from spreading beyond isolated clusters of cases.
Miami-Dade County has the most confirmed infections in Florida — 89 — but so far all have involved someone who traveled outside the US mainland to areas with Zika outbreaks, such as Latin America and the Caribbean.
The White House said in a news release on Wednesday that President Barack Obama had spoken by phone with Florida Governor Rick Scott regarding the new Zika case. The president noted during the call that besides the US$2 million the CDC already provided to Florida, the agency anticipates awarding Florida another US$5.6 million in Zika funding through a grant.
According to a CDC response plan, health officials would want to see more than just one unexplained case before declaring that someone has been infected by a mosquito bite in continental US. The plan suggests there should be two or more cases within a 1-mile area in people who do not live together, who did not have sex with Zika-infected people and who did not recently travel to countries with Zika outbreaks.
There is no vaccine for Zika. The main defense is to avoid mosquito bites. Zika also can spread through unprotected sex with someone who is infected.
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