Zika virus spreads across Florida
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Florida’s governor says that state has confirmed five new non-travel-related cases of Zika, including the first one in the Tampa Bay area. However, officials are not yet declaring it a new zone of active local transmission.
Gov. Rick Scott said at a Zika roundtable in the Tampa area’s Pinellas County that four new cases were connected to mosquitoes in Miami’s Wynwood arts district. He says the fifth case was diagnosed in a Pinellas County resident who hasn’t traveled internationally. Last week health officials announced five other cases of Zika were linked to mosquitoes in Miami Beach.
Officials are looking into the possibility that the Pinellas County resident was infected with the virus in a neighboring county.
Reporting from Florida, CBS News correspondent David Begnaud said crews are doing door-to-door surveys to help figure out the source.
“The question becomes, did that person get it because there is a new cluster, a new Zika zone, so to speak, in the Pinellas County area, or did they travel to South Florida, or were they around someone who did and had Zika,” he said.
While only producing mild symptoms in most people, Zika can cause severe brain-related birth defects in babies, including a dangerously small head, if women are infected during pregnancy.
According to a new projection, nearly 400 non-travel-related Zika infections are likely to occur in Florida before the end of the summer. That estimate was released today by biostatisticians at the University of Florida and other institutions. Other states expected to see locally-acquired Zika cases include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas.