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LIVE BLOG: Updates on Hurricane Milton

26 Cases Of Travel-Related Zika In Florida

The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can spread Zika are native to Florida.
The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can spread Zika are native to Florida.

There are 26 travel-related Zika cases in Florida, according to the latest information from the Florida Department of Health.

Central Florida is now up to three Zika cases. The virus has shown up in Brevard, Osceola and Orange counties. 

On Thursday, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Brevard County’s first Zika case. The virus was caught while traveling to Haiti.

Brevard has been added to the list of counties with a declared state of health emergency, and county officials vowed to increase mosquito control efforts.

Zika is a mild virus, with most people never showing symptoms. But scientists in Latin America fear the virus may be causing an increase inmicrocephaly, a severe birth defect.

So far, all of Florida’s 26 Zika cases were caught while traveling abroad. Here’s a list from the Florida Department of Health on where Floridians are contracting Zika:

  • Venezuela
  • Nicaragua
  • Colombia
  • Haiti
  • Brazil
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • El Salvador
  • Costa Rica
  • Puerto Rico

Reporter Abe Aboraya is a reporter with WMFE in Orlando. WMFE is a partner with , which receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Copyright 2016 Health News Florida

Health News Florida reporter Abe Aboraya works for WMFE in Orlando. He started writing for newspapers in high school. After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2007, he spent a year traveling and working as a freelance reporter for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Weekly, and working for local news websites in the San Francisco Bay area. Most recently Abe worked as a reporter for the Orlando Business Journal. He comes from a family of health care workers.
Lottie Watts was our Florida Matters producer from 2012 to 2016. She also covers health and health policy for WUSF's Health News Florida .
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