CDC Issues Travel Warning for Florida

travel warning

Travel warnings can be issued for a variety of reasons.

In January a crime warning was issued by the US Embassy in the Bahamas related to jet skis. In March, the US State Department issued a travel alert for all of Europe due to terror attacks.

And now the “CDC warns pregnant women against travel to South Florida” due to Zika, according to FOX News.

On August 1 the governor of Florida Rick Scott said that 10 more people had “likely contacted the Zika virus through mosquito bites“. There are now 14 non-travel related Zika cases in Florida.

Due to the additional reports of Zika infections from local mosquitoes, the CDC is suggesting that pregnant women not travel to a small area of Miami (around one square mile north of downtown). I’d think it would be wise to avoid Miami, maybe even Florida in the immediate future completely.

A CDC Emergency Response Team (CERT) is helping state health officials to stop the spread of the virus.

Miami has been trying to deal with the mosquitos which carry the Zika virus but the CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said “aggressive mosquito control measures don’t seem to be working as well as we would have liked”.

Besides warning travelers against visiting the area, the CDC are also suggesting that pregnant women and their partners in the area take extra steps “to avoid mosquito bites and prevent the sexual transmission of Zika“.

The CDC says they should spray with DEET insect repellant and use condoms during sex.

Pregnant women who traveled to the area on or after June 15 should be tested for Zika even if they show no symptoms.

Find out more from FOX News here.

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