The CDC has identified a new transmission area for Zika in the Miami Beach area.
There are five new local cases of Zika in Miami Beach and a new 1.5-square-mile transmission zone from the beach to the Intracoastal Waterway, Florida Gov. Rick Scott confirmed Friday during a Miami visit to talk about the virus.
Initial cases of Zika virus infection in the United States came from people who traveled to countries where the virus was already active, but as confirmed cases of Zika originating locally have been confirmed, it’s spread fear in South Florida.
Amanda Paradiz is 16 weeks pregnant, and she has a mission: to get through her entire pregnancy without a single mosquito bite. ...
“All it takes is one mosquito bite to change the entire course of our lives,” Mrs. Paradiz said.
A single mosquito bite is enough to trigger an infection that can cause microcephaly, malformed limbs, or other damage that lasts a lifetime.
And, as a reminder, there is still no Zika funding. Because Republicans in the House and Senate decided to lace their months-late Zika bill with poison pills that attacked the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood. They preferred to go home and talk about how “Democrats blocked Zika funding” than to put forward a bill that could actually address the issue.
The National Institutes of Health says its limited available funding will be exhausted in just weeks. Lack of dollars hamstring local, state and federal efforts to rapidly and effectively test thousands of women and their partners.
Tim Kaine has led the call for an emergency session of Congress to address Zika funding, but Mitch McConnell has shrugged off the request saying that Democrats were going to have to give in if they expected to help people.
Neither McConnell nor House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has expressed any willingness to cut the long break short to pass Zika legislation, or to remove the riders.
Zika can also bring harmful effects to adults, ranging from mild flu-like symptoms to death. It can also bring on less common conditions.
Thirty people have been diagnosed with a rare paralyzing condition caused by Zika virus infection in Puerto Rico, the territory's health department said Thursday. ...
“We think there will be as many as 200 additional cases, given the overall number of infections there," Frieden told NBC News.
The five cases in Miami Beach add to 25 linked to an area near Wynwood and scattered cases across three counties that bring the total to 36 cases believed to have acquired in the United States.
Federal health officials now are considering whether to advise pregnant women to avoid traveling to the area.