Zika fears after four 'mysterious' Florida cases

Zika fears after four ‘mysterious’ Florida cases

Tuesday, 28 Jul, 2016 0

Health officials in Florida are investigating four cases of the Zika virus that don’t appear to be travel related.

The cases, detected in Miami-Dade County and Broward County, raise the possibility that mosquitoes in the US have begun to carry the virus, which has been linked to severe brain defects in newborns.

So far, cases outside of the Caribbean and Latin America have been attributed to people travelling to that region, or have been sexual transmitted.

According to the BBC, scientists will now investigate the Florida cases by carrying out door-to-door checks at households in an area within a 135-metre radius, which is the flying radius of mosquitoes.

Tom Skinner, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said evidence is mounting to suggest local transmission via mosquitoes is happening in South Florida.

Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.