[vox_mundi]

Zika virus now actively spreading in Miami Beach, CDC expands travel advisory

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/08/zika-miami-beach0819-2300-1024x703.jpg&w=684[/img]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott confirmed Friday that the Zika virus is being spread locally by mosquitoes in Miami Beach, a development that marks an expansion of the outbreak in South Florida and immediately prompted a new travel advisory by federal officials.

"We believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring in Miami Beach,” Scott said at a noon press conference. The suspect zone covers about 1.5 square miles between 8th and 28th streets, and between the beach and the intracoastal waterway -- a stretch that encompasses the city's central tourist area.

Health officials said at least five people have been infected with Zika there, including two who live in Miami Beach. One person from Texas, one from New York and another from Taiwan each have returned home but were infected while traveling in Miami Beach.

The news marks a second front in Miami's fight against local transmission of the virus. Previously, officials had pinpointed local infections in a one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami known as Wynwood. That prompted federal health authorities to urge pregnant women not to visit the area, the first time they ever had warned against travel to a part of the continental United States because of the outbreak of an infectious disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly issued a second travel advisory Friday afternoon, saying pregnant women should also avoid the designated area of Miami Beach. The agency said that pregnant women who live in the area or have to travel there should take extra precautions to guard against mosquito bites, including wearing repellent. It gave the same direction for these women's sexual partners.

Pregnant women and their sexual partners who are concerned about Zika should also consider avoiding "nonessential travel" to all of Miami-Dade County, according to the CDC. Although Zika mostly spreads through mosquito bites, both men and women can transmit the virus sexually.

The transmission zone encompasses the Miami Beach Convention Center, which is set to host the Asia America Trade Show for vendors around the world starting Sunday.

On Thursday, Gov. Scott's office adamantly disputed reports that mosquitoes were transmitting Zika in Miami Beach, despite multiple health officials telling reporters that indeed was the case. In his press conference Friday, the governor faced questions about whether he had tried to obscure evidence of an expanding outbreak, in part to protect the state's massive tourism industry.

As of Thursday, the Florida Department of Health reported 479 travel-related cases of Zika and 35 locally acquired cases. Sixty-three of the state’s Zika cases involve pregnant women. In Miami-Dade, the agency has identified at least four cases of apparently mosquito-borne Zika that occurred outside of the two areas identified for active transmissions.

[onlooker]

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/01/healt ... honeybees/
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Z')ika spraying kills millions of honeybees

[Tanada]

Anyone else notice that the complete panic alarm news coverage of the Zika virus we were flooded with in 2016 was totally absent in 2017? Not even one story anyone thought worthy of posting on the forums.

[Newfie]

I hadn’t noticed. Good point.

[onlooker]

https://www.cdc.gov/zika/intheus/florida-update.html

CDC previously issued guidance related to Zika for people living in or traveling to Miami-Dade County, Florida, which advised that pregnant women not travel to this area due to local transmission of Zika virus. CDC designates areas for Zika virus transmission prevention in the continental United States and Hawaii as red or yellow. Miami-Dade County was previously designated as a Zika cautionary (yellow) area, but that designation was removed on June 2, 2017. This means that there are no longer any travel recommendations related to Zika virus for Miami-Dade County, Florida

[onlooker]

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/world ... -with-zika

World Map of Areas with Risk of Zika

[vox_mundi]

Anyone notice that reference to sexual harassment has disappeared now that the tax bill is passed.

https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/
https://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/index.html

The US government is lifting a ban on engineering deadly viruses to make them more dangerous