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NYers Warned To Avoid Hip Miami Neighborhood Following Uptick In Zika Cases
By
Emma Whitford
Published Aug 2, 2016
Modified Aug 2, 2016
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Aug 2, 2016
Modified Aug 2, 2016
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The NYC Health Department is urging New Yorkers to avoid the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, a shopping and restaurant-heavy area known for its brightly-painted murals, after Florida health officials confirmed at least 14 cases of Zika virus within a one-mile radius there.
"New York City's Health Department is updating its current travel warning for Latin America and the Caribbean to include this area of Miami," Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said Monday, in a joint statement with Deputy Mayor Herminia Palacio. "The fact that Zika is spreading locally in this Miami neighborhood means that pregnant women, women trying to conceive, and their sexual partners put themselves and their unborn child at risk of potential Zika infection when visiting this area."
The NY Times reports that at least 12 men and two women have tested positive for Zika in Wynwood, though it wasn't immediately clear if either of the women were pregnant. An advisory from the Florida Health Department urges anyone who lives in Wynwood, or has traveled to the neighborhood since June 15th, to get tested for Zika, use condoms, and use lots of buy spray.
Anyone with plans to travel to Wynwood is urged not to try getting pregnant for at least eight weeks after their trip.
The uptick in cases in Miami also has the Center for Disease Control (CDC) concerned about the effectiveness of insecticides, which are tricky to spray en masse in cities. In Wynwood, mosquito control has been spot-treating with portable sprayers. "Aggressive mosquito control measures don't seem to be working as well as we would like," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters on Monday.
Zika, a disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, is primarily a health concern for women who are either pregnant, or have plans to become pregnant. According to the CDC, the virus can cause babies to be born with microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. The disease can be spread through sperm during sex (in at at lease one case, a woman infected her male sexual partner), so the travel warnings are directed at men and women in equal measure.
While the culprit mosquitoes have yet to be found in New York City, the Mayor's Office is taking precautionary measures, including extensive mosquito spraying in NYC neighborhoods. Late last month, the first baby was born with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus in New York City.
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