It was a matter of when , not if . A handful of men and woman living in Florida have been diagnosed withZika , making them the first official cases of the computer virus contract within the United States . The conditional relation here is that the Zika - carryingAedes aegyptimosquito , which can be found across many of the warmer southern state , is now able tospread the virusacross parts of North America .
allot toBBC News , more than 1,650 cases of Zika have been discover in the US , but none of them have been spread via mosquito within the nation ’s edge . Themajority of patientswere infected abroad before traveling back home , whereas the stay on minority were infect withsexual natural process , which is know to be capable to broadcast the computer virus from soul to mortal .
At present , fourteen people have contracted the virus within Florida , most likely throughbites from a localAe . aegyptimosquito . However , as in most cases of Zika infection , they are not in any danger , nor have they been hospitalise . The trouble here is that they have now become reservoirs for the virus , andAe . aegypticould unknowingly use them to distribute the disease to the wider population .
In fact , now that Zika be within the blood of several people in the two most densely populated county in Florida – Miami - Dade and Broward – it ’s a approximate foregone conclusion that the virus will spread , particularly as the summer heat spread out further northwards and the mosquitos proliferate along with it .
Severalstudiesover the last few month predicted that Zika was most likely die to first spread in Florida , with Georgia , Texas , South Carolina , Louisiana , and Alabama most potential to register typeface next as the summer go on . Metropolises as far north asNew York Cityare also seen to be at peril , thanks to rising temperature and the presence of theAe . aegyptimosquito .
Where Zika is likely to spread , based on the prevalence of the Ae . aegypti mosqutio . PLOS Currents Outbreaks
presently , officials in Florida are checking in on every single household within the local neighborhood of those that have been infected . Their chief intention are to confirm that local mosquito populations are spreading the virus , and to confirm whether anyone else has been infected .
Bodies of standing water – engender grounds for mosquito – are being destroyed , and officials are advising all resident to have on mosquito repellant . Allblood donationsin the two affected counties are presently suspended .
At present , there are no architectural plan to confine travel in and out of the Sunshine State from within the US , although other area have begin towarn their own citizensabout traveling there . President Obama has involve that all necessary imagination are to be given to help Florida defeat the virus , hop to overtake the nonstarter of Congress to agree on funding for antiviral strategies before its senators and representatives left for their summer break .
Zika is n’t a threat to most of those that it infects , but pregnant women , especially those in their first trimester , are particularly at risk . As multiple subject field have render , Zika preferentially infects thecentral spooky systemof developing fetus , which can result in harmful neurologic conditions likemicrocephaly . In some cases , the baby is digest without much of abrainleft at all .
A recent study estimated that1.65 millionchildbearing woman within Central andSouth Americaare at hazard from being infected by the virus , and up to 13 percent of these pregnancies will leave in neurologicaldamage . Although multiplevaccinesare being trialled , they wo n’t be quick in time for this epidemic , which some estimate will beover in three yearsafter enough people are infected by the virus and subsequently become immune to it .
Miami . It ’s likely more compositor’s case will pop up up here over the next month or so . Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
