It’s news health officials have been expecting, and dreading: Reports of the first Zika cases on continental U.S. soil that appear to have no link to travel.
Authorities this week began investigating 2 Zika infections in the Miami area they fear may have been spread by local mosquitoes. If confirmed as locally transmitted, the cases would mark a sobering setback to Zika prevention efforts in the continental U.S.
People infected with Zika usually have mild symptoms or none at all. However, the virus can cause severe birth defects in babies if mothers are infected during pregnancy.
Until now, most of the more than 1,400 people infected with Zika on the U.S. mainland got the virus while traveling overseas. The rest – about 15 people – acquired Zika through sexual contact with a partner who contracted the virus abroad.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said local Zika transmission could occur if an infected traveler returned to the U.S. and got bitten by a mosquito here. That mosquito could then infect someone else. Authorities are trying to find out if that’s what happened in Florida.
What does this mean for you?
First of all, don’t panic. Your risk of getting Zika is still far greater if you or your partner travel to a country or U.S. territory with a Zika epidemic. Avoiding travel to these areas if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant is the best way to prevent getting this disease. (There is currently no cure for Zika, although several vaccines for the virus are ready for human trials.)
Keep in mind that you can also contract Zika through sex with an infected person (man or woman). Follow these safe sex guidelines if your partner has traveled to a Zika-infested area.
Within the U.S., your threat of acquiring Zika locally is minimal, but higher if you live in south Florida, south Texas, Louisiana and Hawaii, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News. That’s where mosquitoes capable of spreading the disease (Aedes aegypti) are most common.
If you live in or visit these areas, protect yourself by wearing mosquito repellent, long shirts and pants, and by controlling mosquitoes inside and outside your residence.
What do you think about the news out of Florida? Does it make you more concerned about Zika?
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