The Florida Department of Health reported Wednesday on an additional locally transmitted Zika virus infection in Miami-Dade County.
Health officials report they no longer have any identified areas with active Zika transmission, but will continue to see isolated cases of local transmission.
The total locally transmitted cases in Florida now stands at 253.
In Cameron County, Texas, the Texas Department of State Health Services and Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services have identified an additional Brownsville resident with a locally acquired case of Zika virus disease.
It is the sixth local mosquito-transmitted case in Cameron County and Texas but is not thought to be connected to the other cases.
Local public health workers have responded to the case by providing testing to members of the patient’s household and going door-to-door in the area around the patient’s home.
They’re working to identify and offer testing to anyone with possible Zika symptoms and to all pregnant women in the area with or without symptoms. Local officials have also been educating neighbors about Zika and conducting environmental assessments to help reduce mosquito habitats in the area.
In other related news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Thursday it is awarding nearly $184 million in funding to states, territories, local jurisdictions, and universities to support efforts to protect Americans from Zika virus infection and associated adverse health outcomes, including microcephaly and other serious birth defects.
These awards are part of the $350 million in funding provided to CDC under the Zika Response and Preparedness Appropriations Act of 2016.
“Zika continues to be a threat to pregnant women,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “States, territories, and communities need this CDC funding to fight Zika and protect the next generation of Americans.”
According to the federal health agency, the money will be dispersed as follows:
-
The CDC will give $25 million to the 21 jurisdictions most at risk for Zika infections as part of public health emergency preparedness and response efforts.
-
The Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (ELC) Cooperative Agreement will get a $97 million boost to 58 state, territorial, city, and local public health departments. This money will also support the US Zika Pregnancy Registry.
-
Thirty-eight jurisdictions will receive more than $8 million to aid in microcephaly surveillance activities and track outcomes for babies born to mothers with Zika virus.
-
The CDC is giving nearly $40 million to universities conducting research on Zika to establish research centers. Nearly $10 million each will go to the University of Florida, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Cornell University.
-
$14 million will be given to Puerto Rico oversee the island’s first vector control unit.
Related:
