Biosecurity

Spread of Zika passes milestone in United States

It was unprecedented but not unexpected: On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning against travel to a part of the continental United States. As the Washington Post reported, the CDC advisory urged pregnant women to avoid a one-square-mile neighborhood of Miami, where in recent days, Florida confirmed 14 cases of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes, the first such infections in the mainland United States. More than 1,600 cases of Zika have been discovered on the US mainland, but until the new Florida outbreak, all had been contracted while the carrier was traveling overseas. (Usually transmitted by mosquito, the Zika virus can also be spread through sex.)