Tampa

13 New Zika Cases Reported in Florida

What to Know

  • A Tampa charity is distributing insect repellent and mosquito nets to the homeless to help protect them from mosquito bites and Zika.

There are 13 new travel-related cases today with three in Broward, two in Miami-Dade, two in Osceola, two in Polk, one in Alachua, one in Orange, one in Palm Beach and one in St. Lucie counties. The Declaration of Public Health Emergency has been amended to include St. Lucie County. According to CDC, symptoms associated with the Zika virus last between seven to 10 days.

CDC recommends that women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant postpone travel to Zika affected areas. According to CDC guidance, providers should consider testing all pregnant women with a history of travel to a Zika affected area for the virus. CDC recommends that a pregnant woman with a history of Zika virus and her provider should consider additional ultrasounds.

Florida has been monitoring pregnant women with evidence of Zika regardless of symptoms since January. The total number of pregnant women who have been monitored is 43, with 12 having met the previous CDC case definition.

The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and CDC released a new case definition for Zika that now includes reporting both asymptomatic and symptomatic cases of Zika. Prior to this change, states reported only symptomatic non-pregnant cases and pregnant cases regardless of symptoms. This change comes as a result of increased availability for testing in commercial laboratories.

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