First Zika Outbreak Confirmed in Florida
Four people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been infected with the Zika virus by local mosquitoes, Florida health officials said Friday, making them the first known cases of the virus being transmitted by mosquitoes in the continental U.S.
A local outbreak is significant because it means that native mosquitoes are carrying the Zika virus. The four non-travel, non-sexually transmitted cases were each bitten by a local mosquito that had already bitten someone else who was likely infected during a trip abroad or by a sexual partner who had traveled.
As of mid-July there have been more than 1,300 cases of Zika in the U.S., but almost all of them have involved people returning from Zika-affected areas, or their sexual partners. (One was the result of a lab accident, and one, in Utah, is still under investigation.)
Health experts, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have said for months now that it would be only a matter of time before a local Zika infection occurred—one where native mosquitoes spread the virus. Gulf Coast states like Florida are the most susceptible to such outbreaks because they are hot, low-lying, and home to the Aedes mosquito, the only mosquito known to spread the disease.
Like most mosquito-borne diseases, Zika infection is passed from human to insect through the blood. If a female Aedes bites a human who has Zika in his ir her bloodstream, the insect can take up the virus and pass it on to another human during her next blood meal (only female mosquitoes bite, because they need blood to lay their eggs).
For a single local Zika infection to progress to a full outbreak, the Aedes population has to reach a certain density, and conditions have to be favorable for them to spread the virus between humans.
In the U.S., outbreaks are expected to remain local and fairly small, in large part due to the wide availability and use of air conditioning, window and door screens, and insect repellent. There is, nonetheless, a 58-page federal plan for responding to even one local transmission.
The Florida health department is giving out Zika-prevention kits in the areas under investigation. The kits are primarily intended for pregnant women, who face the greatest risks from the virus because of its ability to cross the placenta and cause serious birth defects. In most other people the virus causes mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all.
"Mosquito control has already conducted reduction and prevention activities in the area of investigation,” officials said in a statement. “Residents and visitors are reminded that the best way to protect themselves is to prevent mosquito bites through practicing good drain and cover methods." People are also advised to use mosquito repellent.
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