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 The case involved a woman living in Cameron County near the Mexico
border who is not pregnant, the Texas Department of State Health
Services said.
Pregnancy is the biggest concern with Zika because the virus can
cause severe, life-long birth defects, including microcephaly, in
which a child is born with an abnormally small head, a sign its
brain has stopped growing normally.
Texas said it currently has no other suspected cases of local Zika
transmission, but officials there plan to step up efforts to watch
for the virus.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was
coordinating with state and local officials to increase surveillance
efforts and "vector control activities" such as spraying for adult
mosquitoes and applying larvicide to kill emerging mosquitoes.
Texas is one of several U.S. states where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes,
which carry Zika, are present.
Florida's Miami Dade County has been battling Zika within local
mosquito populations since mid-summer. As of today, the state has
had 238 cases of locally transmitted Zika.
“We knew it was only a matter of time before we saw a Zika case
spread by a mosquito in Texas,” Dr. John Hellerstedt, Texas
Department of State Health Services commissioner, said in a
statement.
“We still don’t believe the virus will become widespread in Texas,
but there could be more cases, so people need to protect themselves
from mosquito bites, especially in parts of the state that stay
relatively warm in the fall and winter.”
Dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases expert at the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center, said local transmission in Texas was
"totally expected."
Both dengue and chikungunya, two closely related viruses, have
already spread locally in Texas, and the state "is a
well-established home" of Aedes mosquitoes.
"What this case underscores is the risk of local transmission in any
area in which Aedes mosquitoes are present and the urgent need to
continue aggressive vector control measures to minimize the impact
of such local introductions," he said.
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Officials in Cameron County and the City of Brownsville have
assessed the woman's home and have begun trapping and testing
mosquitoes to understand how widespread the virus is in local
mosquito populations.
The city recently sprayed for mosquitoes in the area, and will
continue to take action to reduce the mosquito population, state and
local officials said.
“Even though it is late in the mosquito season, mosquitoes can
spread Zika in some areas of the country,” CDC Director Tom Frieden
said in a statement. “Texas is doing the right thing by increasing
local surveillance and trapping and testing mosquitoes in the
Brownsville area.”
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which causes mild fever,
rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have
no symptoms, making it difficult for individuals to know whether
they have been infected.
The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light
last year in Brazil, which has since confirmed more than 2,000 cases
of the birth defect.
In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare
neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other
neurological disorders.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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