Florida extends health emergency over Zika amid growing US concern

South American health ministers launched emergency talks today on fighting the fast-spreading Zika outbreak after a United States case of sexual transmission of the virus, which has been blamed for brain damage in babies.

In late January, one case of Zika virus infection was identified at Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital. There have been about 30 cases in the U.S.in the previous year, all travelers who brought it into the country.

They are Broward and Miami-Dade in south Florida, Hillsborough in the Tampa region, Lee County in southwest Florida and Santa Rosa County in the Florida Panhandle.

The move came after the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Monday due to its links to thousands of birth defects in Brazil.

A city worker fumigates a public school to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, known to transmit dengue, Chikungunya and Zika, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016.

The agency also has a fact sheet on Zika, explaining that one in five people infected with the virus show symptoms.

“The patient was infected with the virus after having sexual contact with an ill individual who returned from a country where Zika virus is present” this year, a Dallas County statement read. It has not yet detected a case in a pregnant woman.

The Centers For Disease Control says they have confirmed the first case of the virus being transmitted sexually in Texas. “We know that we must be prepared for the worst even as we hope for the best”.

Transmission of Zika through blood transfusions adds another dimension to the outbreak of the virus. All four people had recently traveled out of the country, said Dallas County health director Zachary Thompson.

Those with symptoms, or those who have had sexual contact with someone who has symptoms, are urged to seek immediate medical care, to protect themselves from further mosquito bites and to avoid unprotected sexual contact. Reports out of Brazil suggest the virus in pregnant women can lead to birth defects, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.