There is a new possible non-travel Zika case in Miami-Dade County.
Miami, Fla.- On Tuesday the Florida Department of Health announced they were investigating a possible non-travel Zika case in the Miami-Dade County area.
The virus is not yet confirmed according to officials. If it is confirmed this would be the first non-travel Zika virus transmission in the United States. Health officials are investigating a case in Utah as well involving a caregiver who has possibly contracted the virus while caring for an infected relative.
As of Tuesday night there was not any additional information available as to how the patient may have contracted the virus in Miami. Officials are working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an epidemiological investigation.
Small, local outbreaks of the Zika virus are expected in southern states such as Florida, Texas and Louisiana. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carry the virus and are common residents of these southern states.
Orange county has reported 33 travel-related Zika cases since early February when the state health department started investigating the virus. Osceola had 15 documented cases, Seminole had nine and Lake County had one reported case.
Since that time the state has had a total of 326 case of travel-related Zika infections. 43 of those were reported in pregnant women. So far one baby has been born with Zika-related microcephaly, but both mom and baby were infected outside of the states.
Since the beginning of January there have been 1,305 travel-related Zika cases in the United States. Early in the year it became known that Zika was transmitted sexually. Of those 1,305 cases, 14 were sexually transmitted.
The Zika virus is transmitted through infected mosquitoes and infected sexual partners. Health officials have been doing their best to advise men and women of child-bearing age to postpone any plans to travel to countries where the Zika virus is known to be widespread.
