From: "Media@cdc.gov (CDC)"
To: MMWR-MEDIA@LISTSERV.CDC.GOV
Subject: CDC Press Release: CDC working with Florida to respond to new active Zika transmission area in Miami-Dade County
Date: Oct 13, 2016 8:10 PM
To: MMWR-MEDIA@LISTSERV.CDC.GOV
Subject: CDC Press Release: CDC working with Florida to respond to new active Zika transmission area in Miami-Dade County
Date: Oct 13, 2016 8:10 PM
Press Release For Immediate Release Thursday, October 13, 2016 Contact: CDC Media Relations (404) 639-3286 CDC working with Florida to respond to new active Zika transmission area in Miami-Dade County The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to work with Florida health officials to investigate new cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection in Miami-Dade County. Florida today announced a new area of active Zika transmission in an area of about one square mile in Miami-Dade County (NW 79th St. to the North, NW 63rd St. to the South, NW 10th Ave. to the West and N. Miami Ave. to the East). The Florida Department of Health (FLDOH) has identified five people, two women, and three men, in the new area. Three live in the area; the other two either work in or have visited this area. FLDOH has evidence that Zika is only actively being transmitted in this new area and the existing area in Miami Beach. Based on this new information, CDC and Florida health officials recommend at this time:
Detecting local spread of Zika virus is difficult for several reasons:
For this reason, it is possible that other neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County have active Zika virus transmission that is not yet apparent. CDC is working closely with Florida state and local health officials to review current testing recommendations. CDC support for Florida CDC has been working with state, local, and territorial health officials to prepare for the possibility of locally transmitted Zika virus in the United States. Officials from Florida participated in all these activities, and their experience in responding to mosquito-borne diseases similar to Zika virus disease has been an important source of knowledge in this effort. To date, CDC has provided Florida more than $8 million in Zika-specific funding and about $27 million in emergency preparedness funding that can be used toward Zika response efforts. Next week, CDC will provide Florida with more than $2.6 million in Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) funding that can be used to support Zika response efforts. These funds are part of the $44 million of PHEP funding that was included in the Zika emergency supplemental passed by Congress in September. Since February, CDC has sent enough materials to Florida for approximately 11,025-12,600 Zika antibody tests, including materials for 6,300 tests shipped in August in response to Florida Governor Scott?s request. CDC?s Atlanta and Fort Collins, CO, laboratories are also assisting by testing specimens from pregnant women for the Florida Department of Health and are working with Florida on other possible support for Zika lab testing. As of October 11, 5 CDC personnel were deployed in Florida and 8 are pending, with a total of 30 since the beginning of the response, including 12 CDC laboratory staff. It is understandable that women will be especially concerned, and there are things that everyone can do based on what is currently known. While there are still many unanswered questions about Zika, CDC is working hard to find out more about these infections. Here is what is known:
As of October 12, 2016, 3,936 cases of Zika had been reported in the continental United States and Hawaii, including 878 pregnant women with laboratory evidence of possible Zika infection. These cases also include 32 believed to be the result of sexual transmission and one case that was the result of a laboratory exposure. For more information about Zika: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/ |