Mosquitoes have apparently begun spreading the Zika virus on the U.S. mainland for the first time ever and health officials have place a “red alert” on the epidemic that is sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean.
Four recently infected people in the Miami area — one woman and three men — are believed to have contracted the virus locally through mosquito bites,the Florida State Gov. Rick Scott made in his address to the media.
Other methods of Zika transmission, such as travel to a stricken country or sex with an infected person, have been ruled out.
“Zika is now here,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, the U.S. health officials said they do not expect widespread outbreaks in this country of the sort seen in Brazil, in part because of better sanitation, better mosquito control and wider use of window screens and air conditioners.
The virus has triggered alarm across the Western Hemisphere’s warmer latitudes. While most people who get the Zika virus don’t even know they are sick, infection during pregnancy can cause severe brain-related birth defects, including disastrously small heads in newborns.
Statistics show that more than 1,650 people in the mainland U.S. have been infected with Zika in recent months, nearly all while traveling abroad. The four people in Florida are believed to be first to contract the virus from mosquitoes within the 50 states.
Meanwhile,three patients who have also returned to the UK from overseas have tested positive to the virus at hospitals in West Yorkshire.
The cases emerged in an infection control report the organisation’s trust board meeting yesterday following the recent update. Although the public has been informed that the ZIKA virus may not spread as quickly in England as the mosquito that transmits the infection is not present in the UK,but however it can be spread by sexual intercourse.
