ORLANDO, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Florida Department of Health (DOH) has concluded that four cases of the Zika virus are likely mosquito-borne. DOH knows that the four cases are in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. One of these cases involves a woman and the other three cases involve men. At this time, DOH believes that active transmissions of the Zika virus are occurring in one small area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown. The exact location is within the boundaries of the following area: NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south. This area is about 1 square mile and a map is below to detail the area. This is currently the only area of the state where DOH is testing to see if there are local transmissions of Zika. They are all active Zika cases and have not exhibited symptoms to be admitted to the hospital.
Governor Scott said, “We learned today that four people in our state likely have the Zika virus as a result of a mosquito bite. All four of these people live in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties and the Florida Department of Health believes that active transmissions of this virus could be occurring in one small area in Miami. While no mosquitoes have tested positive for the Zika virus, DOH is aggressively testing people in this area to ensure there are no other cases. 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.
“Since our first travel-related case in February, Florida has taken an aggressive approach and committed state and local resources to combat this virus. Just like with a hurricane, we have worked hard to stay ahead of the spread of Zika and prepare for the worst, even as we hope for the best. Now that Florida has become the first state to have a local transmission, likely through a mosquito, we will continue to put every resource available to fighting the spread of Zika in our state. Last month, I used my emergency executive authority to allocate $26.2 million in state funds for Zika preparedness, prevention and response in Florida. I will continue to travel the state and speak with local leaders, ports and airports to ensure their needs are met. If it becomes clear more resources are needed, we will not hesitate to allocate them.
“We know this virus is most detrimental to expecting mothers. If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant and live in the impacted area, I urge you to contact your OB/GYN for guidance and to receive a Zika Prevention kit. I also ask every Floridian to take proper precautions by eliminating any standing water and wearing insect repellent.
“Following today’s news, I directed the Department of Health to immediately begin contracting with commercial pest control companies to increase spraying and mosquito abatement efforts in the impacted area. We know from our experience with successfully dealing with other mosquito-borne viruses in our state that through constant surveillance and immediate action that we will protect our families and visitors. We will continue this same approach as we work to combat the Zika virus in our state. Florida is an outdoors state with pristine beaches, award-winning state parks and world class fishing. We continue to welcome record visitors to Florida and will remind everyone in our state to take proper precautions and wear insect repellent.”
Governor Scott has directed DOH to activate the Joint Information Center (JIC) within the State Emergency Operations Center to ensure impacted areas have coordinated access to information and resources. As part of this effort, Governor Scott has directed DOH to contract with commercial pest control companies to enhance and expand mosquito mitigation and abatement, including increased spraying, in the impacted areas.
Governor Scott has also directed DOH to do the following response activities:
Provide $620,000 to OneBlood, the primary blood bank in the area, to establish appropriate blood screening. DOH will be working with FDA and blood establishments in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties to test each individual unit of blood collected. Additionally, statewide DOH will ensure safe blood for pregnant women by screening units from counties without Zika.
Work with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to issue a Mosquito Declaration and ensure that Mosquito Control in the areas of concern have the resources they need to combat further local transmission. Miami-Dade and Broward County Mosquito Control Districts will receive $1.28 million in state funds through December to combat Zika.
Continue investigations in concert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure we learn all we can about Zika as an emerging disease.
Coordinate with OB/GYNs and organizations that serve pregnant woman in the impacted area to distribute Zika prevention kits to pregnant women.
Ongoing door-to-door outreach in the areas of concern with continued mosquito mitigation activities and repellant distribution.
Partner with VISIT FLORIDA to distribute educational items, repellant and Zika Prevention Kits for pregnant women to visitor centers in the impacted areas.
Partner with the Florida Department of Education to ensure that mosquito breeding source reduction and mitigation activities have occurred at all schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties ahead of children returning to classes this fall.
Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Adam H. Putnam said, “We are dedicated to protecting Floridians and visitors from Zika and will continue to support mosquito control programs throughout Florida with their surveillance and control efforts. Floridians can do their part by draining standing water surrounding their homes, as it can serve as breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting the virus.”
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Celeste Philip said, “As with most emerging health threats, we learn more about Zika each day but we recognize that the unknown can be scary especially for pregnant women. We’re committed to sharing as much as we can as soon as we can. Our top priority is the safety and well-being of all people in Florida and a big part of that is being accessible. If you have questions, please call the Zika hotline at 1-855-622-6735.”
The mosquito kills nearly 750,000 people each year. Malaria is the cause for the majority of these deaths, but a Zika outbreak has the Americas scared of this insect. This is how the insect spreads disease to its victims. Sohail Al-Jamea and Meta ViersMcClatchy
Florida’s Department of Health announced there’s a “high likelihood” of four locally-transmitted cases of the Zika virus in Miami-Dade and Broward County, the first locally-transmitted cases in the United States, and “believes there’s an active transmission area” that includes Wynwood, Midtown and the Design District areas of Miami.
The department defined the transmission area’s boundaries as U.S. 1 (Biscayne Boulevard) to the east; Northwest Fifth Avenue to the west; 20th Street on the south; and 38th Street on the north.
“While no mosquitoes trapped tested positive for the Zika virus, the department believes these cases were likely transmitted through infected mosquitoes in this area,” the department declared in a news release.
“The department is actively conducting door-to-door outreach and urine sample collection in the impacted area and will share more details as they become available. The results from these efforts will help department determine the number of people affected. These local cases were identified by clinicians who brought them to the attention of the department. In addition, blood banks in the area are currently excluding donations from impacted areas until screening protocols are in place.”
Of the 331 cases of Zika the Department of Health separates by county, 99 come from Miami-Dade, more than the next two counties (55 in Broward, 40 in Orange) combined. Those numbers don’t count the 55 pregnant women confirmed with the virus. On June 28, Miami-Dade saw the first baby born in Florida with the Zika virus. The health department said the mother, a Haitian citizen, contracted Zika outside the United States.
In a Friday morning news conference, Florida Governor Rick Scott said he’s written a request to President Barack Obama Zika preparedness items for Florida health departments.
“I used my emergency executive authority to allocate $26.2 million in state funds for Zika preparedness, prevention and response in Florida,” Scott said.
When the news broke Friday that four people with Zika virus in southern Florida had likely been infected by mosquitoes in a tiny section of Miami — in what would be the first known Zika infection via mosquito in the continental U.S. — one of the editors here at FiveThirtyEight asked how sure officials could be that the Zika came from mainland mosquitoes. None of these winged menaces has been caught with the virus yet; shouldn’t we wait until that happens before drawing any conclusions? And, we wondered, why is the state only considering a small neighborhood an active risk for transmitting the virus?
Finding mosquitoes with Zika is not an easy task. In Brazil, there have been more than 66,000 confirmed cases of the virus, which can be dangerous for pregnant women, who are at risk of giving birth to infants with neurological defects as a result of the infection. Brazil has had 1,687 confirmed cases of brain-related birth defects in newborns associated with Zika since the first case was identified in April 2015. But it wasn’t until May of this year that researchers found a mosquito in the wild that was carrying Zika. As Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a call with the media Friday, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Saying with certainty how someone with Zika acquired it is nearly impossible. Until now, most Zika cases reported in the U.S. have been in people who had traveled to or lived in a Zika-affected country. There have also been reported cases of sexual transmission. But in all four of the Florida cases — which were confirmed earlier this month — sex and travel have been ruled out as causes, according to the CDC, and public health officials are operating under the assumption that the infections took place in Miami.
That the state investigation of active transmission of Zika is focusing on a narrow area just north of downtown Miami was striking as well. It mostly consists of a small neighborhood called Wynwood, a rapidly gentrifying area that’s home to art galleries, restaurants, bars, businesses and residences and thus attracts visitors from many parts of the city. Although the CDC and the Florida Department of Health have provided only limited information so far, Frieden offered some explanation for why they have homed in on that area. For two of the infected people, Wynwood is the only known location where their paths coincided. That connection and the fact that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, believed to be the main type that transmits Zika, travel a maximum of a few blocks in their lifetime have led state epidemiologists to believe the infection occurred in that area.
Because Florida sprays for mosquitoes near the residence of anyone identified as having Zika, even those who acquired it abroad, the state has been spraying in Wynwood for several weeks. Frieden said that for now, health officials believe the risk in the neighborhood is under control; they will be concerned only if they start seeing more cases in a few weeks.
Frieden stressed that we should expect to see more cases of locally acquired Zika in the future but that it’s unlikely that the U.S. will experience a major outbreak similar to those that Brazil and other Latin American countries have had. One reason may be that people here spend more time indoors with window screens and air conditioners than in those other countries. Also, past experience with viruses such as chikungunya and dengue show that the U.S. is not generally susceptible to major outbreaks of mosquito-borne viruses.
That is, of course, except for Puerto Rico, which has had locally acquired Zika since December. As of July 7, at least 5,582 people had been diagnosed with the virus there, including 672 pregnant women.
Anna Maria Barry-Jester reports on public health, food and culture for FiveThirtyEight.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Zika: 'The federal government needs to do their part'
Play Video0:58
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on asking for aid to battle the Zika virus: 'This is a national issue, we're just at the front of it.' (Reuters)
Florida and federal officials on Friday confirmed the first local spread of the Zika virus through infected mosquitoes in the continental United States.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) made the announcement following a state health department investigation into four suspected cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Scott said transmission was confined to a small neighborhood just north of downtown Miami and involved one woman and three men.
“We learned today that four people in our state likely have the Zika virus as a result of a mosquito bite," he said during a news conference. "All four of these people live in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and the Florida Department of Health believes that active transmissions of this virus could be occurring in one small area in Miami."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been closely coordinating with Florida and sent a medical epidemiologist at the state's request, made a similar announcement a short time later that left no doubt about the genesis of the cases.
"These are the first cases of locally transmitted Zika virus in the continental United States," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a news briefing Friday. "As we have anticipated, Zika is now here."
Frieden praised state officials for responding rapidly with aggressive mosquito-control measures and a community-wide search for additional Zika cases. Because the virus can have devastating consequences for a fetus, the CDC recommends that pregnant women or women thinking about becoming pregnant postpone travel to Zika-affected regions. However, Frieden said no travel limitations in this country are currently warranted.
"We don’t expect widespread transmission in the continental United States," he said. "That is not the situation we're in today."
But if more people become infected despite ongoing mosquito-control measures, "this would be concerning and warrant further advice and action." The CDC will reassess daily and revise its recommendations accordingly, he said.
The infections occurred in early July in a several-block radius of Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, a popular restaurant and entertainment area. The individuals became sick a week later and were diagnosed a few days after that. Strong evidence suggests that at least two of the people were bitten at work sites near each other in that area, Frieden said.
Lyle Petersen, who is managing the CDC's Zika response, said the agency expects "there may be additional cases of ‘homegrown’ Zika in the coming weeks."
Scott said state officials continue to "put every resource available into fighting the spread of Zika in our state," adding that Florida has been preparing for this type of situation for months, much in the way it prepares for hurricanes.
"We know this virus is most detrimental to expecting mothers," he said. "If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant and live in the impacted area, I urge you to contact your OB/GYN for guidance and to receive a Zika prevention kit. I also ask every Floridian to take proper precautions by eliminating any standing water and wearing insect repellent."
The announcement had been expected since officials revealed a week ago that they were investigating a case of non-travel-related infection. They subsequently acknowledged an additional case in Miami-Dade County and two more suspected cases in neighboring Broward County. Frieden said Friday that all four individuals were infected in Wynwood but that two live in Broward County.
No mosquitoes have yet tested positive for the virus, though. Frieden explained that confirming infections in mosquitoes is much harder than confirming them in people -- which is why there can be local transmission even in the absence of positive insect tests.
Celeste Philip, the state's surgeon general and health department secretary, said officials have been successful in limiting transmission of similar viruses carried by the same mosquito species in the past and expect they will do so for Zika.
"We believe at this time, the likelihood of ongoing transmission is low," she said.
Yet the risk of a local Zika outbreak prompted the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday to direct all blood collection centers in Miami-Dade, Broward and surrounding areas to stop accepting donations until the blood can be tested for the virus.
In a statement Friday, OneBlood, the main organization collecting blood in Florida said that, effective immediately, all blood collections in its service area in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina will be tested for the virus using an experimental donor-screening test. It said operations remain business as usual.
Florida, Texas and other parts of the Gulf Coast are considered at highest risk for local spread of the mosquito-borne virus. The region is home to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary vector for transmitting Zika. Both states have had local cases of dengue and chikungunya, related viruses that are spread by the same mosquito species.
Florida already has 386 travel-related Zika cases, more than any other southern state. Of those, 55 involve pregnant women. Miami-Dade has 99 travel-related cases, the most in the state.
Here's how mosquitos spread the Zika virus
Play Video1:49
Stephen Higgs, director of Kansas State University's Biosecurity Research Institute, explains the anatomy of a mosquito. (Kansas State University)
Philip said transmission is confined to a one-square-mile area, which falls largely within the 33127 Zip code. Its boundaries are NW Fifth Avenue on the west, U.S. Route 1 on the east, NW/NE 38th Street on the north, and NW/NE 20th Street on the south. It is the only place where state officials are testing for local transmission.
According to Census Bureau data, the area is home to about 30,000 people, many of them black and Hispanic. More than one-third of residents there are foreign-born, and more than 40 percent live below the poverty level.
Officials have been spraying in targeted neighborhoods and trapping mosquitoes, as well as going door to door to interview and collect blood and urine samples from more than 200 people to test for the virus. They also distributed Zika-prevention kits and repellent to local obstetrician offices and at local county health offices.
Karen Harris, an obstetrician who heads Florida's chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the news in recent days has been worrisome to clinicians and their patients.
"There is huge concern," said Harris, who practices in northern Florida. One of the biggest challenges is that four out of five people infected with Zika won't have symptoms. "All the obstetricians have been very proactive with patients, but now we really have to step it up," she said.
Adam Putnam, Florida's agriculture commissioner, said Friday that officials have tested more than 19,000 mosquitoes and have not found Zika. Even so, experts say finding a virus present in specific mosquitoes can be a needle-in-a-haystack endeavor.
Widespread transmission is less likely because "there are significant differences in the residential neighborhoods between Florida and some of the other impacted countries,” Putnam said. He cited air conditioning and well-sealed houses with screens on windows.
“Let’s be very clear about that," he said. "The opportunity for [mosquito] habitat in Florida, while Florida is a warm, wet, subtropical climate, is very different than the nations that have seen much, much higher incidence of Zika spread — largely because higher standards of living in the state of Florida."
Scott said President Obama called him Wednesday and said the administration was going to send $5.6 million in aid to Florida to help in its Zika fight. To date, CDC said it has provided Florida more than $8 million in Zika-specific funding and about $27 million in emergency preparedness funding that can be used for response efforts.
Still, Scott said the lack of federal aid thus far on Zika has been "disappointing."
“I went to Washington and met with members of Congress to talk about the funding. I talked to the White House, the [health and human services] secretary," he said. "Congress didn’t fund, and they went on recess.”
Congress left town in mid-July without finalizing legislation to combat the virus, much to the dismay of public health officials, infectious disease experts and children's advocates. Health officials have warned that the $589 million the Obama administration recently redirected from fighting Ebola to combating Zika is insufficient and that lawmakers' failure to approve new funding is delaying work on a vaccine, improved diagnostics to test for Zika and research on the long-term consequences of the virus during pregnancy.
"I would expect that Congress can do more to help us, as I’ve said all along,” Scott said. “The federal government needs to do their part. This is not just a Florida issue. This is a U.S. issue, it’s a national issue. We’re just at the front of it.”
White House spokesman Erik Schultz said Friday that the president had been briefed on the finding in Florida and directed federal agencies to not only monitor the ongoing situation but provide resources and support. Schultz added that Congress should approve the administration's $1.9 billion request to combat Zika outbreaks in the United States.
Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who said the reports highlight the seriousness of the Zika threat, called for the House and Senate to return to Washington immediately to provide the needed funding. "Things will only get worse if Republicans continue their refusal to work with Democrats on a bipartisan response," he said.
Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, who represents a congressional district in southwest Florida, reiterated his call for full emergency funding for Zika. “We should be laser-focused on protecting the most vulnerable among us," he said. "Florida is ground zero for Zika.”
Advocacy groups and others also urged Congress to act.
“This is the news we’ve been dreading," said Edward McCabe, chief medical officer at the March of Dimes. "It’s only a matter of time before babies are born with microcephaly, a severe brain defect, due to local transmission of Zika in the continental U.S."
In comments that seemed to be aimed as much at tourists as residents, Scott stressed how the state has successfully dealt with previous local transmission of dengue and chikungunya and how it will use the same approach now.
"Florida is an outdoors state with pristine beaches, award-winning state parks and world-class fishing," he said, adding that the state continues to welcome visitors and remind them to take proper precautions and wear insect repellent.
The virus is linked to microcephaly and other serious birth defects. Zika spreads to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus), but it can also be spread during sex by an infected person. Most people with Zika won’t have symptoms, but for those who do, the illness is usually mild.
Federal health officials have said they would send a rapid-response team to any community on the mainland and in Hawaii where Zika begins to be transmitted locally — even if only a single case of infection is confirmed. The CDC also is prepared to deploy experts to help state and local authorities in monitoring cases, performing laboratory tests and increasing mosquito control as part of a multilevel response plan. The teams of 10 to 15 people will go if invited by the state.
By:StaffThe Associated PressPublished on Fri Jul 29 2016
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Latest on the Zika virus in Florida (all times local):
4 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene Congress so lawmakers can pass an emergency spending bill to fight the spread of the Zika virus.
Nelson sent McConnell a letter Friday after health officials confirmed four people in South Florida likely contracted Zika from mosquito bites. It is the first local transmission in the U.S. mainland.
The Republican-controlled Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control, vaccine development and other steps to battle Zika.
Nelson, a Florida Democrat, says the time is now for Congress to act.
___
4 p.m.
Some residents of the Wynwood neighbourhood of Miami say they plan to stop eating outside now that four people likely contracted the Zika virus from mosquito bites in South Florida.
State officials on Friday pinpointed the cases to the Wynwood area, a trendyneighbourhood of art galleries and boutiques.
Property manager Marlon Lizano says the news is scary. He regularly eats lunch outside but now says he will start eating indoors.
Jenny Gray, who works for an art designer in Wynwood, says she is concerned and plans to start wearing bug repellant.
___
2:20 p.m.
Puerto Rico health officials are reporting a total of 7,296 Zika cases in the U.S. territory that include 788 pregnant women.
Friday's announcement comes as Puerto Rico prepares to use the organic larvicide Bti to fight the mosquito-borne virus that can cause birth defects.
Health Secretary Ana Rius said 74 people have been hospitalized including 23 diagnosed with a temporary paralysis condition known as Guillain-Barre that has been linked to Zika.
She said all 78 of the island's municipalities have reported Zika cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that hundreds of children could be born with birth defects in the coming year. The agency said Puerto Rico is facing a silent epidemic because eight of 10 people have no symptoms.
___
2 p.m.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has issued a statewide mosquito declaration following the news that South Florida has the first four cases in the U.S. mainland of the Zika virus transmitted by mosquito.
Putnam said on Friday that the declaration allows aggressive mosquito-control efforts to be taken within at least a 200-yard radius around the home of someone who has gotten infected by a mosquito.
Those efforts include spraying insecticide and chemicals that kill larvae and conducting mosquito surveillance.
Putnam says Floridians should wear bug spray and drain bodies of standing water.
___
1:50 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says the announcement that South Florida has four cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika virus isn't just a public health crisis but an economic one as well for the tourist-dependent state.
Rubio said Friday during a campaign event in the Miami suburb, Doral, that the federal government needs to quickly distribute money to combat the spread of the virus.
The Florida Republican says the news may make visitors think twice about coming to Florida. The state had 106 million visitors last year.
Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control, vaccine development and other steps to battle Zika.
Rubio is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate after dropping out of the U.S. presidential race earlier this year.
___
1 p.m.
President Obama's spokesman says Florida needs more federal money to limit the spread of the Zika virus.
White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said Friday's announcement that South Florida has four mosquito-transmitted cases should be a wake-up call for Congress "to get back to work."
Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control, vaccine development and other steps to battle Zika.
Schultz called that "regrettable."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has provided Florida $8 million in Zika-specific funding, and the White House has said the state can anticipate receiving another $5.6 million in Zika funding through a grant.
___
1 p.m.
An entomologist at the University of Florida says it's not surprising that no mosquitoes have tested positive for Zika even though four residents in South Florida have been found to be the first cases of mosquito-borne Zika virus in the U.S. mainland.
Roxanne Connelly said Friday that finding positive mosquitoes is like chasing a moving target.
Connelly talked about the difficulties in finding positive mosquitoes after Gov. Rick Scott confirmed that the three men and one woman in the Miami area likely contracted the virus through mosquito bites.
Connelly says it can take a couple of weeks before an infected person starts exhibiting symptoms and by then the mosquitoes that transmitted the virus are dead.
She says it's also difficult to determine where someone was infected, whether it was at home, at work or somewhere else.
She says during a recent outbreak in the African nation Senegal, scientists tested 11,000 mosquitoes but only found 31 bugs that tested positive for Zika.
___
11:30 a.m.
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs says potential visitors to Florida shouldn't think twice about coming to the Sunshine State.
Jacob's jurisdiction covers the Orlando area's major theme parks in the Orlando area, and she spoke to reporters Friday after Gov. Rick Scott announced that South Florida has the first four cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes in the U.S. mainland.
There have been no mosquito-transmitted cases in central Florida yet. But Orlando was the country's most visited metro area last year with 66 million tourists, and tourism is Florida's biggest industry.
Jacobs says Florida's theme parks have some of the best mosquito control measures in place that she knows of and that the parks are safe.
But she encourages visitors to take precautions such as wearing bug spray and getting rid of any standing water they may have.
___
9:50 a.m.
Florida's governor says the state has concluded that four mysterious Zika infections likely came from mosquitoes in the Miami area.
Gov. Rick Scott said Friday that no mosquitoes in the state have tested positive for Zika. But he says one woman and three men in Miami-Dade and Broward counties likely contracted the virus through mosquito bites.
More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the U.S., but the four patients in Florida would be the first not linked to travel outside the U.S. mainland.
Scott says health officials believe the infections occurred in a small area just north of downtown Miami.
Zika primarily spreads through bites from tropical mosquitoes. In most people, the virus causes only mild illness, but infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects for the fetus.
It’s little surprise that the Florida Department of Health confirmed this morning that there’s a “high likelihood” that local transmission of Zika has occurred in the United States for the first time, says Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland. “I can tell you right here today I’m almost certain that we’re going to see more,” Fauci said this morning at an event held by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. “The critical issue is how do you respond to that.”
The four cases appear to have been infected in early July just north of downtown Miami in an area of about 2.5 square kilometers, the Florida health department reported after doing intensive investigations to rule out the possibility that the patients were infected by traveling to affected countries or via sex with infected people.
The department released a map featuring a rectangle where transmission has likely occurred—an area whose boundaries are "NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south," the department says. At a press conference held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta later in the day, CDC Director Tom Frieden explained that the area had high levels of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a species known to spread the Zika virus, although no infected mosquitoes have yet been found.
The four infected live in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties, but Frieden noted that at least two worked in the area inside the rectangle. He went further than the Florida health department when asked about his level of certainty that these cases are truly local transmission. “We consider this and are proceeding as though it is confirmed local, mosquito-borne transmission,” he said.
Scientists had predicted that Zika would gain a foothold in Florida this year, based on the heavy volume of travel from Latin America and the presence of A. aegyptimosquitoes that can transmit the virus. There have already been nearly 400 cases of travel-related, or "imported" Zika in Florida, which increased the odds that a mosquito would bite an infected person and transmit it to others. Indeed, imported cases were increasing at such a fast clip that “I had to revise my slide twice a day,” Fauci said. (Another city that scientists say is likely to see local Zika transmission is Brownsville, Texas, which also has large populations of A. aegypti and a very busy border crossing with Mexico.)
Models suggest that the cases don't forebode a big epidemic in the United States. Other viral diseases spread by the same mosquitoes—including dengue and chikungunya—that have caused massive epidemics south of the U.S. border have triggered only small outbreaks in the United States. Scientists cite a variety of factors for the marked difference, including lower mosquito densities and the fact that people spend more time inside. “Very aggressive mosquito abatement” in Florida and other states will also help make it “unlikely” that the continental United States would see a big epidemic, Fauci said. “That doesn’t mean we should relax and be cavalier,” he added. “We’ve got to be very aggressive about the things that you do to prevent mosquito transmission. You get rid of the mosquitoes, you get rid of their breeding place, and you have the population—particularly pregnant women if they’re living in that area—to protect themselves against mosquitoes.”
The four Zika cases in Miami have triggered far more attention than the cases of local dengue and chikungunya transmission, Fauci says. “Hardly anybody paid any attention to it,” he said. “I bet nobody even remembers reading major stories about dengue in Florida or chikungunya in Florida or Texas, but it happened.”
Frieden noted that blood banks in the affected area have started to screen for Zika virus infection. He stressed that pregnant women in particular should take precautions, including using insect repellant and long clothing.
So far, Congress has not heeded the White House’s call for emergency funding to respond to Zika. “If we had more resources we’d be able to mount a more robust response,” Frieden said. If new money does not surface soon, Fauci warned that human trials of Zika vaccines might be delayed. “I have moved a fair amount of money from other accounts to do what I think is a very proactive, full-court press on the research,” he said. “Nothing has substantially slowed—yet. I am preciously close to the point where I don’t have any money and things are going to start slowing.”
Investigators were led to Wynwood, a neighborhood full of hip restaurants and art galleries but also vacant storefronts and residential blocks, by two other cases: infected men who work in businesses about 400 feet from each other there, according to the report.
One, a man in his late 20s known as Broward #2, has a job at a business that does work in Brazil and has several employees who travel there frequently, according to the report. The report didn’t name the business or say what kind of work it does.
The patient recently had a houseguest from Brazil, where an explosive epidemic last year led to nearly 166,000 suspected infections and has been tied to birth defects in hundreds of newborns. Fourteen of the roughly 30 employees who work at the business in Wynwood reported they had typical Zika symptoms such as fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis from early June to mid-July, according to the report.
The other infected man, a 26-year-old known as Miami-Dade #2, works at a business nearby with 11 employees. He and a customer were the only ones to report Zika symptoms, according to the report.
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niman
Gov. Scott: With Likely Mosquito-Borne Zika Cases, State Will Use Full Resources to Protect Floridians
ORLANDO, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Florida Department of Health (DOH) has concluded that four cases of the Zika virus are likely mosquito-borne. DOH knows that the four cases are in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. One of these cases involves a woman and the other three cases involve men. At this time, DOH believes that active transmissions of the Zika virus are occurring in one small area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown. The exact location is within the boundaries of the following area: NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south. This area is about 1 square mile and a map is below to detail the area. This is currently the only area of the state where DOH is testing to see if there are local transmissions of Zika. They are all active Zika cases and have not exhibited symptoms to be admitted to the hospital.
Governor Scott said, “We learned today that four people in our state likely have the Zika virus as a result of a mosquito bite. All four of these people live in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties and the Florida Department of Health believes that active transmissions of this virus could be occurring in one small area in Miami. While no mosquitoes have tested positive for the Zika virus, DOH is aggressively testing people in this area to ensure there are no other cases. 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.
“Since our first travel-related case in February, Florida has taken an aggressive approach and committed state and local resources to combat this virus. Just like with a hurricane, we have worked hard to stay ahead of the spread of Zika and prepare for the worst, even as we hope for the best. Now that Florida has become the first state to have a local transmission, likely through a mosquito, we will continue to put every resource available to fighting the spread of Zika in our state. Last month, I used my emergency executive authority to allocate $26.2 million in state funds for Zika preparedness, prevention and response in Florida. I will continue to travel the state and speak with local leaders, ports and airports to ensure their needs are met. If it becomes clear more resources are needed, we will not hesitate to allocate them.
“We know this virus is most detrimental to expecting mothers. If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant and live in the impacted area, I urge you to contact your OB/GYN for guidance and to receive a Zika Prevention kit. I also ask every Floridian to take proper precautions by eliminating any standing water and wearing insect repellent.
“Following today’s news, I directed the Department of Health to immediately begin contracting with commercial pest control companies to increase spraying and mosquito abatement efforts in the impacted area. We know from our experience with successfully dealing with other mosquito-borne viruses in our state that through constant surveillance and immediate action that we will protect our families and visitors. We will continue this same approach as we work to combat the Zika virus in our state. Florida is an outdoors state with pristine beaches, award-winning state parks and world class fishing. We continue to welcome record visitors to Florida and will remind everyone in our state to take proper precautions and wear insect repellent.”
Governor Scott has directed DOH to activate the Joint Information Center (JIC) within the State Emergency Operations Center to ensure impacted areas have coordinated access to information and resources. As part of this effort, Governor Scott has directed DOH to contract with commercial pest control companies to enhance and expand mosquito mitigation and abatement, including increased spraying, in the impacted areas.
Governor Scott has also directed DOH to do the following response activities:
Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Adam H. Putnam said, “We are dedicated to protecting Floridians and visitors from Zika and will continue to support mosquito control programs throughout Florida with their surveillance and control efforts. Floridians can do their part by draining standing water surrounding their homes, as it can serve as breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting the virus.”
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Celeste Philip said, “As with most emerging health threats, we learn more about Zika each day but we recognize that the unknown can be scary especially for pregnant women. We’re committed to sharing as much as we can as soon as we can. Our top priority is the safety and well-being of all people in Florida and a big part of that is being accessible. If you have questions, please call the Zika hotline at 1-855-622-6735.”
###
http://www.flgov.com/2016/07/29/gov-scott-with-likely-mosquito-borne-zika-cases-state-will-use-full-resources-to-protect-floridians/
niman
JULY 29, 2016 9:50 AM
Zika “active transmission area” in Miami, health department says
BY DAVID J. NEAL
dneal@miamiherald.com
Florida’s Department of Health announced there’s a “high likelihood” of four locally-transmitted cases of the Zika virus in Miami-Dade and Broward County, the first locally-transmitted cases in the United States, and “believes there’s an active transmission area” that includes Wynwood, Midtown and the Design District areas of Miami.
The department defined the transmission area’s boundaries as U.S. 1 (Biscayne Boulevard) to the east; Northwest Fifth Avenue to the west; 20th Street on the south; and 38th Street on the north.
“While no mosquitoes trapped tested positive for the Zika virus, the department believes these cases were likely transmitted through infected mosquitoes in this area,” the department declared in a news release.
“The department is actively conducting door-to-door outreach and urine sample collection in the impacted area and will share more details as they become available. The results from these efforts will help department determine the number of people affected. These local cases were identified by clinicians who brought them to the attention of the department. In addition, blood banks in the area are currently excluding donations from impacted areas until screening protocols are in place.”
Of the 331 cases of Zika the Department of Health separates by county, 99 come from Miami-Dade, more than the next two counties (55 in Broward, 40 in Orange) combined. Those numbers don’t count the 55 pregnant women confirmed with the virus. On June 28, Miami-Dade saw the first baby born in Florida with the Zika virus. The health department said the mother, a Haitian citizen, contracted Zika outside the United States.
In a Friday morning news conference, Florida Governor Rick Scott said he’s written a request to President Barack Obama Zika preparedness items for Florida health departments.
“I used my emergency executive authority to allocate $26.2 million in state funds for Zika preparedness, prevention and response in Florida,” Scott said.
David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article92563452.html
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article92563452.html#storylink=cpy
niman
JUL 29, 2016 AT 6:04 PM
Zika Has Made Its Way To Florida Mosquitoes
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Filed under zika
When the news broke Friday that four people with Zika virus in southern Florida had likely been infected by mosquitoes in a tiny section of Miami — in what would be the first known Zika infection via mosquito in the continental U.S. — one of the editors here at FiveThirtyEight asked how sure officials could be that the Zika came from mainland mosquitoes. None of these winged menaces has been caught with the virus yet; shouldn’t we wait until that happens before drawing any conclusions? And, we wondered, why is the state only considering a small neighborhood an active risk for transmitting the virus?
Finding mosquitoes with Zika is not an easy task. In Brazil, there have been more than 66,000 confirmed cases of the virus, which can be dangerous for pregnant women, who are at risk of giving birth to infants with neurological defects as a result of the infection. Brazil has had 1,687 confirmed cases of brain-related birth defects in newborns associated with Zika since the first case was identified in April 2015. But it wasn’t until May of this year that researchers found a mosquito in the wild that was carrying Zika. As Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a call with the media Friday, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Saying with certainty how someone with Zika acquired it is nearly impossible. Until now, most Zika cases reported in the U.S. have been in people who had traveled to or lived in a Zika-affected country. There have also been reported cases of sexual transmission. But in all four of the Florida cases — which were confirmed earlier this month — sex and travel have been ruled out as causes, according to the CDC, and public health officials are operating under the assumption that the infections took place in Miami.
That the state investigation of active transmission of Zika is focusing on a narrow area just north of downtown Miami was striking as well. It mostly consists of a small neighborhood called Wynwood, a rapidly gentrifying area that’s home to art galleries, restaurants, bars, businesses and residences and thus attracts visitors from many parts of the city. Although the CDC and the Florida Department of Health have provided only limited information so far, Frieden offered some explanation for why they have homed in on that area. For two of the infected people, Wynwood is the only known location where their paths coincided. That connection and the fact that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, believed to be the main type that transmits Zika, travel a maximum of a few blocks in their lifetime have led state epidemiologists to believe the infection occurred in that area.
Because Florida sprays for mosquitoes near the residence of anyone identified as having Zika, even those who acquired it abroad, the state has been spraying in Wynwood for several weeks. Frieden said that for now, health officials believe the risk in the neighborhood is under control; they will be concerned only if they start seeing more cases in a few weeks.
Frieden stressed that we should expect to see more cases of locally acquired Zika in the future but that it’s unlikely that the U.S. will experience a major outbreak similar to those that Brazil and other Latin American countries have had. One reason may be that people here spend more time indoors with window screens and air conditioners than in those other countries. Also, past experience with viruses such as chikungunya and dengue show that the U.S. is not generally susceptible to major outbreaks of mosquito-borne viruses.
That is, of course, except for Puerto Rico, which has had locally acquired Zika since December. As of July 7, at least 5,582 people had been diagnosed with the virus there, including 672 pregnant women.
Anna Maria Barry-Jester reports on public health, food and culture for FiveThirtyEight.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/zika-has-made-its-way-to-florida-mosquitoes/
niman
U.S. confirms Florida Zika cases are first local transmission in any state
Florida and federal officials on Friday confirmed the first local spread of the Zika virus through infected mosquitoes in the continental United States.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) made the announcement following a state health department investigation into four suspected cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Scott said transmission was confined to a small neighborhood just north of downtown Miami and involved one woman and three men.
“We learned today that four people in our state likely have the Zika virus as a result of a mosquito bite," he said during a news conference. "All four of these people live in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and the Florida Department of Health believes that active transmissions of this virus could be occurring in one small area in Miami."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been closely coordinating with Florida and sent a medical epidemiologist at the state's request, made a similar announcement a short time later that left no doubt about the genesis of the cases.
"These are the first cases of locally transmitted Zika virus in the continental United States," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a news briefing Friday. "As we have anticipated, Zika is now here."
Frieden praised state officials for responding rapidly with aggressive mosquito-control measures and a community-wide search for additional Zika cases. Because the virus can have devastating consequences for a fetus, the CDC recommends that pregnant women or women thinking about becoming pregnant postpone travel to Zika-affected regions. However, Frieden said no travel limitations in this country are currently warranted.
"We don’t expect widespread transmission in the continental United States," he said. "That is not the situation we're in today."
But if more people become infected despite ongoing mosquito-control measures, "this would be concerning and warrant further advice and action." The CDC will reassess daily and revise its recommendations accordingly, he said.
The infections occurred in early July in a several-block radius of Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, a popular restaurant and entertainment area. The individuals became sick a week later and were diagnosed a few days after that. Strong evidence suggests that at least two of the people were bitten at work sites near each other in that area, Frieden said.
Lyle Petersen, who is managing the CDC's Zika response, said the agency expects "there may be additional cases of ‘homegrown’ Zika in the coming weeks."
Scott said state officials continue to "put every resource available into fighting the spread of Zika in our state," adding that Florida has been preparing for this type of situation for months, much in the way it prepares for hurricanes.
"We know this virus is most detrimental to expecting mothers," he said. "If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant and live in the impacted area, I urge you to contact your OB/GYN for guidance and to receive a Zika prevention kit. I also ask every Floridian to take proper precautions by eliminating any standing water and wearing insect repellent."
[Without federal funding, counties brace for Zika on their own]
The announcement had been expected since officials revealed a week ago that they were investigating a case of non-travel-related infection. They subsequently acknowledged an additional case in Miami-Dade County and two more suspected cases in neighboring Broward County. Frieden said Friday that all four individuals were infected in Wynwood but that two live in Broward County.
No mosquitoes have yet tested positive for the virus, though. Frieden explained that confirming infections in mosquitoes is much harder than confirming them in people -- which is why there can be local transmission even in the absence of positive insect tests.
Celeste Philip, the state's surgeon general and health department secretary, said officials have been successful in limiting transmission of similar viruses carried by the same mosquito species in the past and expect they will do so for Zika.
"We believe at this time, the likelihood of ongoing transmission is low," she said.
Yet the risk of a local Zika outbreak prompted the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday to direct all blood collection centers in Miami-Dade, Broward and surrounding areas to stop accepting donations until the blood can be tested for the virus.
[FDA temporarily halts blood donation in two Florida counties over Zika fears]
In a statement Friday, OneBlood, the main organization collecting blood in Florida said that, effective immediately, all blood collections in its service area in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina will be tested for the virus using an experimental donor-screening test. It said operations remain business as usual.
Florida, Texas and other parts of the Gulf Coast are considered at highest risk for local spread of the mosquito-borne virus. The region is home to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary vector for transmitting Zika. Both states have had local cases of dengue and chikungunya, related viruses that are spread by the same mosquito species.
Florida already has 386 travel-related Zika cases, more than any other southern state. Of those, 55 involve pregnant women. Miami-Dade has 99 travel-related cases, the most in the state.
Here's how mosquitos spread the Zika virus
Philip said transmission is confined to a one-square-mile area, which falls largely within the 33127 Zip code. Its boundaries are NW Fifth Avenue on the west, U.S. Route 1 on the east, NW/NE 38th Street on the north, and NW/NE 20th Street on the south. It is the only place where state officials are testing for local transmission.
According to Census Bureau data, the area is home to about 30,000 people, many of them black and Hispanic. More than one-third of residents there are foreign-born, and more than 40 percent live below the poverty level.
Officials have been spraying in targeted neighborhoods and trapping mosquitoes, as well as going door to door to interview and collect blood and urine samples from more than 200 people to test for the virus. They also distributed Zika-prevention kits and repellent to local obstetrician offices and at local county health offices.
[CDC issues updated guidance for Zika testing in pregnant women]
Karen Harris, an obstetrician who heads Florida's chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the news in recent days has been worrisome to clinicians and their patients.
"There is huge concern," said Harris, who practices in northern Florida. One of the biggest challenges is that four out of five people infected with Zika won't have symptoms. "All the obstetricians have been very proactive with patients, but now we really have to step it up," she said.
Adam Putnam, Florida's agriculture commissioner, said Friday that officials have tested more than 19,000 mosquitoes and have not found Zika. Even so, experts say finding a virus present in specific mosquitoes can be a needle-in-a-haystack endeavor.
Widespread transmission is less likely because "there are significant differences in the residential neighborhoods between Florida and some of the other impacted countries,” Putnam said. He cited air conditioning and well-sealed houses with screens on windows.
“Let’s be very clear about that," he said. "The opportunity for [mosquito] habitat in Florida, while Florida is a warm, wet, subtropical climate, is very different than the nations that have seen much, much higher incidence of Zika spread — largely because higher standards of living in the state of Florida."
Scott said President Obama called him Wednesday and said the administration was going to send $5.6 million in aid to Florida to help in its Zika fight. To date, CDC said it has provided Florida more than $8 million in Zika-specific funding and about $27 million in emergency preparedness funding that can be used for response efforts.
Still, Scott said the lack of federal aid thus far on Zika has been "disappointing."
“I went to Washington and met with members of Congress to talk about the funding. I talked to the White House, the [health and human services] secretary," he said. "Congress didn’t fund, and they went on recess.”
Congress left town in mid-July without finalizing legislation to combat the virus, much to the dismay of public health officials, infectious disease experts and children's advocates. Health officials have warned that the $589 million the Obama administration recently redirected from fighting Ebola to combating Zika is insufficient and that lawmakers' failure to approve new funding is delaying work on a vaccine, improved diagnostics to test for Zika and research on the long-term consequences of the virus during pregnancy.
[Lifelong care, heartache ahead for babies born with Zika in the U.S.]
"I would expect that Congress can do more to help us, as I’ve said all along,” Scott said. “The federal government needs to do their part. This is not just a Florida issue. This is a U.S. issue, it’s a national issue. We’re just at the front of it.”
White House spokesman Erik Schultz said Friday that the president had been briefed on the finding in Florida and directed federal agencies to not only monitor the ongoing situation but provide resources and support. Schultz added that Congress should approve the administration's $1.9 billion request to combat Zika outbreaks in the United States.
Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who said the reports highlight the seriousness of the Zika threat, called for the House and Senate to return to Washington immediately to provide the needed funding. "Things will only get worse if Republicans continue their refusal to work with Democrats on a bipartisan response," he said.
Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, who represents a congressional district in southwest Florida, reiterated his call for full emergency funding for Zika. “We should be laser-focused on protecting the most vulnerable among us," he said. "Florida is ground zero for Zika.”
Advocacy groups and others also urged Congress to act.
“This is the news we’ve been dreading," said Edward McCabe, chief medical officer at the March of Dimes. "It’s only a matter of time before babies are born with microcephaly, a severe brain defect, due to local transmission of Zika in the continental U.S."
In comments that seemed to be aimed as much at tourists as residents, Scott stressed how the state has successfully dealt with previous local transmission of dengue and chikungunya and how it will use the same approach now.
"Florida is an outdoors state with pristine beaches, award-winning state parks and world-class fishing," he said, adding that the state continues to welcome visitors and remind them to take proper precautions and wear insect repellent.
The virus is linked to microcephaly and other serious birth defects. Zika spreads to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus), but it can also be spread during sex by an infected person. Most people with Zika won’t have symptoms, but for those who do, the illness is usually mild.
Federal health officials have said they would send a rapid-response team to any community on the mainland and in Hawaii where Zika begins to be transmitted locally — even if only a single case of infection is confirmed. The CDC also is prepared to deploy experts to help state and local authorities in monitoring cases, performing laboratory tests and increasing mosquito control as part of a multilevel response plan. The teams of 10 to 15 people will go if invited by the state.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/07/29/florida-announces-zika-is-likely-spreading-by-mosquitoes-in-the-continental-u-s-2/
niman
The Latest: Senator seeks reconvening of Congress over Zika
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Latest on the Zika virus in Florida (all times local):
4 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene Congress so lawmakers can pass an emergency spending bill to fight the spread of the Zika virus.
Nelson sent McConnell a letter Friday after health officials confirmed four people in South Florida likely contracted Zika from mosquito bites. It is the first local transmission in the U.S. mainland.
The Republican-controlled Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control, vaccine development and other steps to battle Zika.
Nelson, a Florida Democrat, says the time is now for Congress to act.
___
4 p.m.
Some residents of the Wynwoodneighbourhood of Miami say they plan to stop eating outside now that four people likely contracted the Zika virus from mosquito bites in South Florida.
State officials on Friday pinpointed the cases to the Wynwood area, a trendyneighbourhood of art galleries and boutiques.
Property manager Marlon Lizano says the news is scary. He regularly eats lunch outside but now says he will start eating indoors.
Jenny Gray, who works for an art designer in Wynwood, says she is concerned and plans to start wearing bug repellant.
___
2:20 p.m.
Puerto Rico health officials are reporting a total of 7,296 Zika cases in the U.S. territory that include 788 pregnant women.
Friday's announcement comes as Puerto Rico prepares to use the organic larvicide Bti to fight the mosquito-borne virus that can cause birth defects.
Health Secretary Ana Rius said 74 people have been hospitalized including 23 diagnosed with a temporary paralysis condition known as Guillain-Barre that has been linked to Zika.
She said all 78 of the island's municipalities have reported Zika cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that hundreds of children could be born with birth defects in the coming year. The agency said Puerto Rico is facing a silent epidemic because eight of 10 people have no symptoms.
___
2 p.m.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has issued a statewide mosquito declaration following the news that South Florida has the first four cases in the U.S. mainland of the Zika virus transmitted by mosquito.
Putnam said on Friday that the declaration allows aggressive mosquito-control efforts to be taken within at least a 200-yard radius around the home of someone who has gotten infected by a mosquito.
Those efforts include spraying insecticide and chemicals that kill larvae and conducting mosquito surveillance.
Putnam says Floridians should wear bug spray and drain bodies of standing water.
___
1:50 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says the announcement that South Florida has four cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika virus isn't just a public health crisis but an economic one as well for the tourist-dependent state.
Rubio said Friday during a campaign event in the Miami suburb, Doral, that the federal government needs to quickly distribute money to combat the spread of the virus.
The Florida Republican says the news may make visitors think twice about coming to Florida. The state had 106 million visitors last year.
Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control, vaccine development and other steps to battle Zika.
Rubio is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate after dropping out of the U.S. presidential race earlier this year.
___
1 p.m.
President Obama's spokesman says Florida needs more federal money to limit the spread of the Zika virus.
White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said Friday's announcement that South Florida has four mosquito-transmitted cases should be a wake-up call for Congress "to get back to work."
Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control, vaccine development and other steps to battle Zika.
Schultz called that "regrettable."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has provided Florida $8 million in Zika-specific funding, and the White House has said the state can anticipate receiving another $5.6 million in Zika funding through a grant.
___
1 p.m.
An entomologist at the University of Florida says it's not surprising that no mosquitoes have tested positive for Zika even though four residents in South Florida have been found to be the first cases of mosquito-borne Zika virus in the U.S. mainland.
Roxanne Connelly said Friday that finding positive mosquitoes is like chasing a moving target.
Connelly talked about the difficulties in finding positive mosquitoes after Gov. Rick Scott confirmed that the three men and one woman in the Miami area likely contracted the virus through mosquito bites.
Connelly says it can take a couple of weeks before an infected person starts exhibiting symptoms and by then the mosquitoes that transmitted the virus are dead.
She says it's also difficult to determine where someone was infected, whether it was at home, at work or somewhere else.
She says during a recent outbreak in the African nation Senegal, scientists tested 11,000 mosquitoes but only found 31 bugs that tested positive for Zika.
___
11:30 a.m.
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs says potential visitors to Florida shouldn't think twice about coming to the Sunshine State.
Jacob's jurisdiction covers the Orlando area's major theme parks in the Orlando area, and she spoke to reporters Friday after Gov. Rick Scott announced that South Florida has the first four cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes in the U.S. mainland.
There have been no mosquito-transmitted cases in central Florida yet. But Orlando was the country's most visited metro area last year with 66 million tourists, and tourism is Florida's biggest industry.
Jacobs says Florida's theme parks have some of the best mosquito control measures in place that she knows of and that the parks are safe.
But she encourages visitors to take precautions such as wearing bug spray and getting rid of any standing water they may have.
___
9:50 a.m.
Florida's governor says the state has concluded that four mysterious Zika infections likely came from mosquitoes in the Miami area.
Gov. Rick Scott said Friday that no mosquitoes in the state have tested positive for Zika. But he says one woman and three men in Miami-Dade and Broward counties likely contracted the virus through mosquito bites.
More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the U.S., but the four patients in Florida would be the first not linked to travel outside the U.S. mainland.
Scott says health officials believe the infections occurred in a small area just north of downtown Miami.
Zika primarily spreads through bites from tropical mosquitoes. In most people, the virus causes only mild illness, but infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects for the fetus.
http://www.metronews.ca/news/world/2016/07/29/the-latest-senator-seeks-reconvening-of-congress-over-zika.html
niman
Mosquitoes likely transmitted Zika to people in this Miami neighborhood, according to the Florida health department.
Florida Department of Health
Zika has gained a foothold in Florida but is unlikely to become widespread in the United States
By Jon Cohen
It’s little surprise that the Florida Department of Health confirmed this morning that there’s a “high likelihood” that local transmission of Zika has occurred in the United States for the first time, says Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland. “I can tell you right here today I’m almost certain that we’re going to see more,” Fauci said this morning at an event held by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. “The critical issue is how do you respond to that.”
The four cases appear to have been infected in early July just north of downtown Miami in an area of about 2.5 square kilometers, the Florida health department reported after doing intensive investigations to rule out the possibility that the patients were infected by traveling to affected countries or via sex with infected people.
The department released a map featuring a rectangle where transmission has likely occurred—an area whose boundaries are "NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south," the department says. At a press conference held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta later in the day, CDC Director Tom Frieden explained that the area had high levels of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a species known to spread the Zika virus, although no infected mosquitoes have yet been found.
The four infected live in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties, but Frieden noted that at least two worked in the area inside the rectangle. He went further than the Florida health department when asked about his level of certainty that these cases are truly local transmission. “We consider this and are proceeding as though it is confirmed local, mosquito-borne transmission,” he said.
Scientists had predicted that Zika would gain a foothold in Florida this year, based on the heavy volume of travel from Latin America and the presence of A. aegyptimosquitoes that can transmit the virus. There have already been nearly 400 cases of travel-related, or "imported" Zika in Florida, which increased the odds that a mosquito would bite an infected person and transmit it to others. Indeed, imported cases were increasing at such a fast clip that “I had to revise my slide twice a day,” Fauci said. (Another city that scientists say is likely to see local Zika transmission is Brownsville, Texas, which also has large populations of A. aegypti and a very busy border crossing with Mexico.)
Models suggest that the cases don't forebode a big epidemic in the United States. Other viral diseases spread by the same mosquitoes—including dengue and chikungunya—that have caused massive epidemics south of the U.S. border have triggered only small outbreaks in the United States. Scientists cite a variety of factors for the marked difference, including lower mosquito densities and the fact that people spend more time inside. “Very aggressive mosquito abatement” in Florida and other states will also help make it “unlikely” that the continental United States would see a big epidemic, Fauci said. “That doesn’t mean we should relax and be cavalier,” he added. “We’ve got to be very aggressive about the things that you do to prevent mosquito transmission. You get rid of the mosquitoes, you get rid of their breeding place, and you have the population—particularly pregnant women if they’re living in that area—to protect themselves against mosquitoes.”
The four Zika cases in Miami have triggered far more attention than the cases of local dengue and chikungunya transmission, Fauci says. “Hardly anybody paid any attention to it,” he said. “I bet nobody even remembers reading major stories about dengue in Florida or chikungunya in Florida or Texas, but it happened.”
Frieden noted that blood banks in the affected area have started to screen for Zika virus infection. He stressed that pregnant women in particular should take precautions, including using insect repellant and long clothing.
So far, Congress has not heeded the White House’s call for emergency funding to respond to Zika. “If we had more resources we’d be able to mount a more robust response,” Frieden said. If new money does not surface soon, Fauci warned that human trials of Zika vaccines might be delayed. “I have moved a fair amount of money from other accounts to do what I think is a very proactive, full-court press on the research,” he said. “Nothing has substantially slowed—yet. I am preciously close to the point where I don’t have any money and things are going to start slowing.”
niman
Investigators were led to Wynwood, a neighborhood full of hip restaurants and art galleries but also vacant storefronts and residential blocks, by two other cases: infected men who work in businesses about 400 feet from each other there, according to the report.
One, a man in his late 20s known as Broward #2, has a job at a business that does work in Brazil and has several employees who travel there frequently, according to the report. The report didn’t name the business or say what kind of work it does.
The patient recently had a houseguest from Brazil, where an explosive epidemic last year led to nearly 166,000 suspected infections and has been tied to birth defects in hundreds of newborns. Fourteen of the roughly 30 employees who work at the business in Wynwood reported they had typical Zika symptoms such as fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis from early June to mid-July, according to the report.
The other infected man, a 26-year-old known as Miami-Dade #2, works at a business nearby with 11 employees. He and a customer were the only ones to report Zika symptoms, according to the report.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pregnant-zika-victim-alerted-officials-to-florida-outbreak-1470821406
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