Federal health officials on Friday warned pregnant women not to travel to trendy Miami Beach after Florida confirmed that the mosquito-borne Zika virus was active in the popular tourist destination.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also suggested that pregnant women who are especially worried about exposure to Zika - which has been shown to cause the severe birth defect known as microcephaly - might consider avoiding all of Miami-Dade County.
The new warnings represent a challenge to Florida's multibillion dollar tourism industry, with Miami Beach accounting for nearly half of visitor stays in the Greater Miami area. They also heighten concerns over Zika's spread in the continental United States.
In a press conference, Florida Governor Rick Scott said state health officials had identified five cases of Zika believed to be contracted in Miami Beach.
"This means we believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring in Miami Beach," he said, noting that the state had already stepped up pesticide spraying efforts in this area.
The new transmissions come as Miami-Dade continues to battle Zika in the Wynwood arts neighbourhood of Miami, the site of the first locally transmitted cases of Zika in the continental United States. For a graphic of Florida's Zika outbreak, click here: (http://tmsnrt.rs/2b3VUp3)
In Miami Beach, the state believes Zika transmission is confined to a 1.5-square-mile area located between 8th and 28th streets in the popular South Beach neighbourhood. For a graphic of map, click here, (http://tinyurl.com/hdl6mxs)
Miami Beach resident Steve Ehrlich, 30, said news of the five cases transmitted somewhere in the blocks around his home was not surprising, but that did not make it any less concerning.
"You knew it was going to intermingle all over the place," he said.
And though Ehrlich said and he and his wife Caroline did not have any immediate plans to have more children, any thought of doing so has been indefinitely shelved.
Current CDC guidelines recommend men wait six months after being infected with Zika before trying to have children to avoid passing the virus to a pregnant partner through semen. The recommendations are based on observations that the virus can live in semen as long as 93 days after an infection, but a recent report in the journal Eurosurveillence described two cases in which the virus lingered in semen six months after a person was infected.
"The CDC is giving recommendations for how long to wait before you get pregnant, but it seems like no one has a clear grasp on just how long it stays in your system," Ehrlich said. "That's scary for us because we eventually want to have more kids."
Travel expert Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel consultancy Atmosphere Research Group, said the Zika outbreak in South Florida could jeopardise travel in the area.
"Even if 1 percent or 2 percent of potential travellers decide not to go to Florida, whether it’s for leisure or for business, there could be a multi-million dollar hit to the local economy,” he said.
In a conference call with reporters on Friday, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said there have been at least four other independent instances of mosquito-borne Zika transmission in Miami-Dade county. These were individual cases and did not represent local transmission.
Frieden said it is difficult to determine if cases are locally acquired and whether cases are related. As a result, there may be a time lag in reporting the spread of disease locally.
Given that, Frieden said there could be transmissions that have not been identified throughout Miami, which is why the CDC has advised pregnant women and their sexual partners who are worried about potential exposure to consider avoiding travel to Miami entirely.
Of the five new cases in Miami Beach, one person is a resident of New York, one person is a resident of Texas and one person is a resident of Taiwan.
"All three of these people travelled to Miami," Scott said.
Frieden said battling Zika-carrying mosquitoes in this neighbourhood will be especially challenging because the area's high rise buildings will prevent pilots from flying low enough to drop pesticides in aerial spraying campaigns.
"The inability to use aerial spraying there means we'll be limited to using ground-based techniques like backpack spraying," he said.
Frieden said aerial spraying continues to be successful in the Wynwood neighbourhood, where experts have seen "substantial but not complete knockdowns of mosquito populations.
Scott said Florida has requested more support from the CDC.
LAWMAKERS URGE MORE FUNDING
Reporters pressed Scott on the timeliness of the announcement, which was first reported in the Miami Herald on Thursday and was confirmed by many other news outlets on Thursday, including Reuters.
"We recognise the desire for information quickly, but it is important that we conduct our interviews and investigations pursuant to epidemiological standards," Scott said.
Reporters charged Scott with underplaying Zika transmission and delaying confirmation to minimize the effect on tourism in the state.
Scott said the state was taking every measure to ensure the information they provided to the public was accurate.
In a press conference later on Friday, however, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine expressed frustration with Scott and the state's health department for keeping him and other elected officials in the dark about the island-city's five locally transmitted Zika cases.
Levine said mayors across Miami received the information at the same time as media.
"It's backwards," Levine said.
Levine said he and tourism promotion officials have also sought to get ahead of a panic that could cut into hotel reservations.
"Between our efforts and the county's spraying efforts the last thing I'd ever want to be is a mosquito on Miami Beach," Levine said.
U.S. Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat, said the transmission of Zika in Miami Beach "is the most alarming development yet in the rapidly growing threat of Zika in the United States."
Both Reid and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, renewed calls for lawmakers in the House and Senate to return to Washington to authorise funding to help public health officials fight the spread of Zika.
President Barack Obama in February requested $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion) to fight Zika but Congressional efforts to approve part of the funding deadlocked before lawmakers adjourned for the summer.
Earlier on Friday, U.S. health officials published a study estimating that as many as 270 babies in Puerto Rico may be born with the severe birth defect known as microcephaly caused by Zika infections in their mothers during pregnancy.
A public health emergency was declared in the U.S. territory on Aug. 12 after more than 10,000 laboratory-confirmed cases were recorded, including more than a thousand pregnant women.
The condition, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains, is estimated to cost $10 million over the lifetime of one child.
The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infection in the mothers.
Reuters
Sat Aug 20 2016
A map is seen of the active Zika zone as U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton visits the Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami, Florida August 9, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Keane
10 Berita Pilihan - (16 Julai 2024
Antara pelbagai berita dalam dan luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
PAC beri tempoh tiga bulan kepada HRD Corp
Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Wang Negara (PAC) memberi tempoh tiga bulan kepada Perbadanan Pembangunan Sumber Manusia (HRD Corp) untuk mengemukakan laporan tindakan susulan terhadap syor jawatankuasa itu.
Kylian Mbappe tandatangan kontrak dengan Real Madrid
Bintang bola sepak Perancis Kylian Mbappe menandatangani kontrak selama lima tahun dengan kelab Sepanyol Real Madrid pada Selasa.
Pelepasan ketujuh air sisa nuklear Fukushima ke laut selesai
Jepun telah menyelesaikan pusingan ketujuh pelepasan air sisa radioaktif yang dirawat dari loji kuasa nuklear Fukushima Daiichi ke Lautan Pasifik pada Selasa.
Empat termasuk kapten maut dalam pertempuran
Empat anggota tentera India termasuk kapten meninggal dunia akibat kecederaan selepas pertempuuran pada malam isnin di Hutan Desa.
Pakistan sahkan 4 warganya terbunuh di Oman
Pakistan berkata pada Selasa empat warganya terbunuh dalam insiden tembakan pada malam Isnin berhampiran ibu negara Oman, Muscat.
Lima terbunuh, puluhan cedera dalam protes antikuota di Bangladesh
Sekurang-kurangnya empat orang terbunuh dan puluhan lagi cedera dalam pertempuran antara pelajar yang memprotes sistem kuota dalam pekerjaan sektor awam dan polis di pelbagai bahagian Bangladesh pada Selasa.
Kerajaan cadang perkenal pembiayaan swasta
Kerajaan menyasarkan untuk memperkenalkan pembiayaan swasta alternatif bagi memastikan kemampanan kewangan program sektor air, sekali gus mengurangkan kebergantungan pada perbelanjaan kerajaan dan mengukuhkan daya tahan.
Saya tak fitnah Guan Eng, cuma jelaskan siasatan SPRM - Muhyiddin
Presiden Bersatu Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin memberitahu Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur hari ini bahawa beliau tidak memfitnah Lim Guan Eng berhubung isu pengecualian cukai terhadap Yayasan Albukhary
KPT alu-alukan dapatan, cadangan PAC - Zambry
Ini termasuklah cadangan pelaksanaan Garis Panduan Pelaburan dan Pembiayaan oleh Universiti Awam 2024 kepada anak-anak syarikat di bawah seliaan Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi (KPT).
Sekurang-kurangnya dua maut dalam nahas jet peribadi Florida
Sebuah jet peribadi dinaiki lima orang penumpang terhempas di di Interstate 75 berhampiran Naples, di pantai barat daya Florida.
Aaliyah Yoong raih tempat kelapan keseluruhan di Kejohanan Terbuka Dunia di Florida
Kedudukan tersebut membolehkan Aaliyah mendapat tempat dalam final 12 peluncur, sekali gus menempatkan diri dalam kedudukan 10 terbaik di tempat kesembilan.
Florida: Mayat manusia ditemukan dalam mulut aligator
Aligator itu dikeluarkan dari air dan telah dibunuh.
Taufan Idalia memaksa pemindahan, pembatalan penerbangan di Florida
Ribut Tropika Idalia bertambah kuat dan bertukar taufan Kategori 2 pada petang Selasa.
Tiga orang mati ditembak di Florida, polis sifatkan kejadian 'bermotif perkauman'
Seorang lelaki kulit putih menembak mati tiga orang di dalam sebuah kedai runcit di kawasan yang sebahagian besar dihuni oleh penduduk kulit hitam.
Muhammad Azeem raih tempat keenam di Florida
Pelari pecut sensasi negara Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi menamatkan saingan acara 100 meter (m) di tempat keenam pada Kejohanan East Coast Relays di Jacksonville, Florida.
Bekas teman wanita Tiger Woods fail saman, dakwa wujud perjanjian kongsi rumah
Peguam Tiger Woods menafikan bahawa pemain golf terkemuka itu dan bekas teman wanitanya, Erica Herman memiliki perjanjian perkongsian rumah bersama di Florida.
Aaliyah dijemput sertai kejohanan dunia, akan ke Florida untuk latihan persediaan
Aaliyah merupakan seorang daripada lapan atlet luncur air yang akan bertanding dalam acara 'tricks' wanita.
Penumpang tanpa pengalaman kendali pesawat selepas juruterbang tidak 'berupaya'
Detik mendebarkan itu dikongsikan pengawal trafik udara, Robert Morgan kepada wartawan.
Bot bawa 40 PATI karam di perairan Florida, 39 hilang
Bot berkenaan karam selepas dipukul ombak kira-kira 72.4 km barat Fort Pierce Inlet, di persisir pantai Florida.