Zika: Florida Governor Says Locally Transmitted Cases in Miami Beach

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Florida Governor Rick Scott has confirmed five new locally-transmitted cases of the Zika virus in Miami Beach, the Miami Herald reports. Officials have established a new 1.5 square mile transmission zone from the beach to the Intracoastal Waterway, running from Eighth Street to 28th Street in Miami Beach. 

The new cases include three tourists and two Miami residents, Gov. Scott told the Miami Herald at a news conference. According to discussions between the county health department and Miami Beach officials, along with an email by City Manager Jimmy Morales, conditions may already meet Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for confirmed transmission of the disease, the Herald said. The CDC guidelines define two or more infected people who do not share a household, and with transmission due to travel or sexual activity also ruled out, as a local outbreak. 

Locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus had been present in certain Miami-Dade and Broward county neighborhoods as of July. More recently, a resident of Texas tested positive for the virus after traveling to Miami, marking the first case in the state linked to a trip within the United States

Elsewhere in the world, the CDC recently added three more Caribbean countries to its Zika virus travel alert: the Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda and Turks and Caicos

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