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 At the request of Gov. Rick Scott, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention is sending in a special emergency response
team of eight disease experts to assist Florida in its
investigation.
The state has been handling the investigation largely on its own
since early July, when the first case of a possible Zika infection
caused by local mosquitoes was suspected.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a conference call that local
mosquito control efforts have not worked as well as hoped, but so
far, the outbreak does not appear to have traveled very far.
"Nothing we have seen suggests widespread Zika virus transmission,"
Frieden said.
The ongoing Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil,
where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of the birth
defect microcephaly. Since that time the virus has spread rapidly
through the Americas and its arrival in the continental United
States had been widely anticipated.
On Friday, Florida said the first four cases of Zika in the state
likely were caused by mosquitoes, the first sign that the virus is
circulating locally, although it has yet to identify mosquitoes
carrying the disease.
The 10 new cases announced on Monday bring the total to 14. Of
these, 12 are men and 2 are women.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt
University School of Medicine, said there is concern that people
infected in Florida will travel to other areas of the country where
Zika could then be spread through local mosquitoes there.
The CDC advised people returning from the affected area of Florida
to use mosquito repellent for three weeks to protect their families
and guard against further transmission at home.
It also recommended that women avoid getting pregnant for up to
eight weeks after returning from the affected area.
The agency said that pregnant women who live in or traveled to the
affected area after June 15 should be tested for Zika.
A map of the neighborhood can be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/images/intheus/maps-zika-us/local-fl-2016-07-31-1500px.jpg
Florida health officials initially tested individuals in three
locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, but ruled out two of
those locations. Six of the 10 new cases are asymptomatic and were
identified through a door-to-door campaign, which involved the
collection of urine samples.
Infectious disease experts expressed doubt that the outbreak was
contained to such a small area of Miami.
"To assume that it's just restricted to these few square blocks is
presumptuous," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of
Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
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Hotez believes there are other likely local outbreaks occurring and
that more can be expected in the next six weeks in Florida and other
Gulf Coast states where the mosquito that carries the virus is
common.
CONCERNS ABOUT SPREADING
Florida said it began investigating a possible case of local Zika
transmission on July 7. But the CDC was first informed of the case
on July 18, a day before the state announced it had a possible case
of non-travel related Zika, according to CDC spokeswoman Kathy
Harben.
CDC has been coordinating with Florida officials and sent Dr. Marc
Fischer, a CDC epidemiologist, on July 22 at the state's request.
Reuters was first to report that as of last Friday, Florida still
had not activated a CDC Emergency Response Team (CERT) to help with
its investigation, raising concerns from infectious disease experts
that the state was not taking every step it could to contain the
spread of Zika in the continental United States.
Frieden said in a conference call there were signs of possible local
transmission as early as mid-June.
He said a full emergency response team - which include experts in
epidemiology, vector control and logistics - will be on the ground
in Florida on Tuesday.
White House spokesman Eric Shultz told reporters on Air Force One
that the president has been continually briefed on the situation in
South Florida.
Schultz said Florida will be redoubling its vector control efforts
in the outbreak area, which involves a 1-square-mile (2.6 square km)
area in the mixed-use area north of downtown Miami. CDC said
pregnant women who live or work in the area and their partners
should make every effort to avoid mosquito bites.
Schaffner and Hotez said the government must come up with proper
funding to fight Zika. "Local and state health department budgets
are very tight," Schaffner said.
President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion to fund a
Zika response last spring, but arguments over funding levels
resulted in a stalemate, and Congress adjourned for the summer
without authorizing any funding.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Bill Berkrot; additional
reporting by Ayesha Rascoe in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott and
Bernard Orr)
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