'Highly Unusual' Travel Advisory Issued as Florida Gets 10 New Zika Cases

All are in one neighborhood north of Miami
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 1, 2016 11:04 AM CDT
Updated Aug 1, 2016 6:50 PM CDT
Travel Advisory Expected as Florida Hit by 10 New Zika Cases
A female Aedes aegypti mosquito feeds on the arm of a researcher at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in Brazil.   (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

The "good" news is that the only spot in the US where mosquitoes are believed to be transmitting the Zika virus continues to be one small neighborhood north of downtown Miami. The bad news is that more people have been infected. Gov. Rick Scott on Monday announced that 10 additional people have been identified as having acquired the virus through a local mosquito bite, bringing the total to 14, reports NBC Miami. The state is asking the CDC for help, reports the Washington Post. The agency issued a travel advisory Monday warning women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant to avoid traveling to the affected Wynwood area of Miami-Dade County, the AP reports.

"While we continue to learn more about this virus each day, we know that it is most harmful to pregnant women and their babies," says Scott in a statement. "For women who live or work in the impacted area and are either pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, I urge you to contact your OB/GYN for guidance and to receive a Zika prevention kit." The AP calls the CDC's travel warning "highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented." The agency recommended pregnant women who have traveled to the affected area any time since mid-June be tested for Zika, and also said anyone who has visited the area recently should put off getting pregnant for at least two months. (More Florida stories.)

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