Jim Rosica
Gov. Rick Scott announced Wednesday he was ordering free Zika virus testing for pregnant women at county health departments.
The news came a day after the Department of Health said a “new non-travel related infection is located outside of the one-square mile area in Miami where the department has identified active transmission is taking place.”
The hot zone is located in Miami’s Wynwood section. Its boundaries are Northwest 5th Avenue to the west, U.S. 1 to the east, Northwest/Northeast 38th Street to the north and Northwest/Northeast 20th Street to the south, according to the state.
“We will not become complacent and will continue to aggressively fight against the Zika virus,” Scott said in a statement. “We know Zika is most harmful to pregnant women and their babies and we must work to protect them.”
The total number of pregnant women who have been or are being monitored is 55. Since February, the department has tested more than 2,400 people, Scott said, with 340 tested since July 7 in the one-mile zone.
The department also said there were “no new Zika infections to report” as of Wednesday. The state’s total for locally transmitted infections stands at 15, according to reports.
These are believed to be the first mosquito-transmitted cases in the mainland U.S., which has been girding for months against the epidemic coursing through Latin America and the Caribbean.
On Monday, the CDC instructed pregnant women to avoid the neighborhood, marking what is believed to be the first time in the agency’s 70-year history that it warned people not to travel somewhere in the U.S.
The Zika virus can cause severe brain-related birth defects, including disastrously small heads.
The mosquitoes spreading Zika in Miami are proving harder to eradicate than expected as authorities sprayed clouds of insecticide in the ground-zero neighborhood, emptied kiddie pools and handed out cans of insect repellent to the homeless.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the mosquito-control efforts in the bustling urban neighborhood aren’t achieving the hoped-for results, suggesting the pests are resistant to the insecticides or are still finding standing water in which to breed.
Mosquito control experts said that’s no surprise to them, describing the Aedes aegypti mosquito as a “little ninja” capable of hiding in tiny crevices, sneaking up on people’s ankles, and breeding in just a bottle cap of standing water.
Also, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch called on Congress to reconvene to address President Barack Obama‘s request for emergency funding to combat the Zika virus.
The Massachusetts Democrat says House and Senate lawmakers can’t wait until their scheduled return in early September to address the problem as the risk of transmission grows across the country. Lynch is co-sponsor of a bill that provides $1.9 billion in emergency funding to fight Zika.
The Florida Zika Virus Information Hotline is 1-855-622-6735. To find the county health department nearest you, click here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report, reprinted with permission
