FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR SAYS the state has concluded that four mysterious Zika infections likely came from mosquitoes in the Miami area.
Rick Scott said that no mosquitoes in the state have tested positive for Zika. But he says one woman and three men in Miami-Dade and Browar0d counties likely contracted the virus through mosquito bites.
More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the US, but the four patients in Florida would be the first not linked to travel outside the US mainland.
About 15 of the US cases have been sexually transmitted while one was acquired in a laboratory, according to medical news outlet Stat.
The four new cases have raised the possibility that mosquitoes in the US have begun to spread the virus, although officials say they are still looking into the cases and have not come to a conclusion.
Scott says health officials believe the infections occurred in a small area just north of downtown Miami.
Zika primarily spreads through bites from tropical mosquitoes. In most people, the virus causes only mild illness, but infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects for the foetus.
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