Physical Wellness

Miami Beach’s Mosquitoes Test Positive To Zika Virus, Florida Health Officials Issue Warnings

By Shilpa Chakravorty | Update Date: Sep 02, 2016 12:29 PM EDT

It seems that the Zika virus outbreak is steadily making its progress in mainland USA, as Florida announced on Thursday that Miami Beach's mosquitoes tested positive to Zika Virus.

The Aedes aeypti mosquitoes, who are a carrier of Zika virus are difficult to fight as it is, and experts have claimed that testing them is a tedious task in itself.

However, the three samples of mosquitoes, which tested positive, were obtained from a 1.5 square mile area in Miami Beach, where prior cases of ZIka virus infection has been confirmed, reported New York Times.

County officials are awaiting results on another batch of mosquitoes, though they wouldn't say where they were trapped, reported Miami Herald.

Notably, without being alarmed by this development, officials and politicians on Thursday mentioned that the finding is disappointing, but not surprising.

"Florida is among the best in the nation when it comes to mosquito surveillance and control, and this detection enables us to continue to effectively target our resources," mentioned Adam Putnam, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture.

In a press conference on Thursday afternoon in the County Hall, Carlos Gimenez, Miami Dade Mayor mentioned that the announcement would not change the County's effort of combating Zika virus outbreak. The health inspectors would be spraying and dropping larvacide daily in the infected areas.

In addition to the two local infections reported on Thursday, state health officials also confirmed seven more travel-related cases, including three in Miami-Dade, two in Broward, and one each in Osceola and Sarasota counties.

Reportedly, a total of 705 Florida citizens have contracted Zika virus this year, out of which 576 cases were travel-related and 49 were due to local infections. Additionally, 80 pregnant women in Florida has also been tested positive for Zika virus, although the government officials are yet to divulge their locations.

The three positive samples reported Thursday are the first among 2,470 rounds of testing in Florida since May to test positive. In all, more than 40,000 mosquitoes statewide have been tested for Zika.

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