Zika

Sometime next year, genetically modified mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys in an effort to combat persistent insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and the Zika virus

Health officials are reporting Florida’s second case this year of the Zika virus transmitted by a local mosquito has been identified in Miami-Dade County.

Florida health officials are reporting the state’s first case this year of the Zika virus transmitted by a local mosquito.

Brazil declared an end to its public health emergency over the Zika virus on Thursday, 18 months after a surge in cases drew headlines around the world. The mosquito-borne virus wasn’t considered a major health threat until the 2015 outbreak revealed that Zika can lead to severe birth defects. One of those defects, microcephaly, causes babies to be born with...

Governor Rick Scott announced that that so-called “Zika Zone” between 8th Street and 28th Street on Miami Beach will be lifted, the fourth zone lifted since the outbreak started this summer.

The Florida Department of Health confirmed one new travel related case in Miami-Dade County recently, with around 1,200 cases being reported across the state since June.

Researchers say a severe birth defect caused by a Zika infection may not be apparent at birth but develop months afterward, further confirmation that the virus can cause unseen damage to developing babies.

State officials say that’s the highest nine-month total ever and a 5.5 percent increase over last year.

Florida’s Department of Health will allocate another $7.4 million for mosquito control efforts to stop Zika’s spread in Miami-Dade County.

Miami-Dade County officials have released the locations of mosquito traps that captured Zika-positive insects in Miami Beach.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine were in Washington D.C. to meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. Representative from five South Florida districts.

Planes will take to the sky Saturday morning and spray a one and a half square mile area. Weather permitting, the spraying will go for 30 minutes and start at 6 AM.

Planes began dropping the pesticide Naled on the area between 8th Street and 28th Street shortly before 5:30 AM Friday morning.

Residents and business owners are advised to not have standing water and other areas considered breeding zones for the virus.

Five new local transmissions of Zika were announced by the state Tuesday, but the news was not all bad.

Three experimental Zika vaccines protected monkeys against infection from the virus, an encouraging sign as research moves into studies in people. The success in monkeys, which involved a traditional vaccine and two more cutting-edge ones, “brings us one step closer to a safe and effective Zika vaccine,” said Dr. Dan Barouch of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “But...

Thirteen new travel-related cases of Zika were reported in Florida on Monday. Five of those cases are in MIami-Dade and Broward Counties.

Researchers will study some U.S. athletes for Zika during the summer Olympics and Paralympics in Brazil, to better understand how the virus infects. The National Institutes of Health announced the study Tuesday, amid concern among athletes over the mosquito-borne virus, which can cause severe birth defects.

Zika virus causes different types of brain damage in babies, not just microcephaly, according to two new reports. Brazilian researchers found as many as one in five babies born with brain damage caused by Zika had normal-sized heads, NBC News reports. That means babies who may seem normal may in fact suffer from serious conditions that parents and doctors may...