Florida: CDC travel alert after more Zika cases
August 20, 2016, 2:44 am

The Zika virus has been directly linked to increases in birth defects such as microcephaly [Xinhua]

Florida Governor Rick Scott told a gathering of the press on Friday that “Today the department of health has learned through one of their investigations that five individuals that have already been confirmed as cases of local transmission of Zika are connected to the Miami Beach area”.

The announcement prompted the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a travel alert for pregnant women to avoid the Miami Beach area, as well as the Wynwood district of Miami-Dade County where 16 local cases were reported last week.

The Zika virus is believed to directly cause microcephaly birth defects in pregnant women.

Microcephaly is a condition where a baby is born with a much smaller head than average, occurs during pregnancy and has been linked to the Zika virus. Microcephaly can cause brain defects, and mental and physical disabilities.

In the past year, pregnant women have been advised not to travel to countries in Latin America where the Zika virus and infection is prevalent.

Health officials are also concerned because the city of Miami is considered a major destination and transit point for people traveling from Latin America, where the virus has been spreading since last summer.

Earlier this week, US health officials declared a public health state of emergency in Puerto Rico where the number of Zika virus infections have doubled to more than 10,000 in the past three months.

Last week, the Obama administration diverted some $81 million from other health care programs to fund research to find a vaccine. This new funding comes after an earlier $589 million allocated to Zika research last April was announced to have been nearly spent.

The Zika virus was first reported in a monkey living in the Zika Forest in Uganda in 1947, and spread to humans in Africa and Asia within a few years.

The Aedes mosquito, which inhabits tropical areas, bites an infected person and then carries the virus to another person it bites. The virus is transmitted from a mother to a child during pregnancy or birth.

But since last summer, when the hardest hit country Brazil first reported a Zika outbreak, scientists have discovered that the virus can also be sexually transmitted.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies