Florida, vulnerable to Zika virus, gets ready for fight

The Zika virus is usually spread through mosquito bites, but investigators have been exploring the possibility the virus also can be spread through sex.

Rick Scott, who has declared a health emergency over the Zika virus, announced three new cases Thursday and added Broward County to the list of affected regions.

“Pregnant women should consider avoiding travel to countries with the Zika virus – or if travel is unavoidable, they ought to seek travel health advice from their GP or a travel clinic well in advance of their trip”.

The Spanish health authorities said the mother-to-be, who is understood to be 13-14 weeks pregnant, brought the total to nine patients with Zika identified in the country.

Gonzalo Vazquez, an environmental science researcher at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, said any transmission beyond Florida is likely to remain tightly contained because most tourists returning north aren’t likely to be bitten by any mosquitoes during the winter. Studies are under way to investigate the association of Zika virus infection and microcephaly, the CDC has said.

Health officials and scientists are still struggling to determine which of the cases of microcephaly have a definitive correlation with a Zika infection.

But since October, Brazil has reported 404 confirmed cases of microcephaly where the baby’s head is abnormally small – up from 147 in 2014 – plus 3,670 suspected cases.

The timing has fuelled strong suspicions that Zika is causing the birth defect. Infections have also been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralytic nervous system disorder, in adults.

The ministry says the number of cases diagnosed so far are within expectations and do not pose a risk for the virus to be spread in Spain.

No cases of the mosquito-born virus have been reported in the United Kingdom, but two adults have been confirmed to have had it in Ireland.

The news comes a day after South American health ministers held an emergency meeting in Uruguay on the disease. “Aedes mosquitoes are not found in Western Australia, so there is no recognized risk of the virus spreading here”.

ABC News reports that Scott has ordered the Florida Department of Health to “take any action necessary to protect public health”, and gives the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam, authority to issue a “mosquito declaration” to reduce insect populations in the affected counties.

The move is consistent with advice from WHO Europe.