Categories: Brevard County

2 More Zika Cases Reported In Brevard County On Wednesday

BREVARD COUNTY, Florida – The number of cases of the Zika virus that have been confirmed on Florida’s Space Coast increased from 6 to 8 on Wednesday. All Zika cases in Brevard County, Florida have been travel-related and not locally acquired.

As of July 27, 2016, there have been 328 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the Sunshine State. The Florida Department of Health is expanding its ongoing investigations with two additional possible non-travel related Zika virus cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

While local transmissions have not occurred in Brevard County, local transmissions are possible if a Zika infected visitor or returning traveler is bitten by mosquitoes that then spread the virus to other people they bite.

A recent NASA study predicted that locally acquired outbreaks are most likely to occur in Florida during July during peak mosquito and travel season.

Although the Zika virus pandemic has afflicted much of Latin America and the Caribbean and is most likely to gain foothold in the continental U.S. through Florida this summer, President Barack Obama and Congress have not enacted any travel restrictions from those countries.

The Zika virus is spread by bites from two mosquito species: Aedes aegypti (primarily) and Aedes albopictus, both found in Florida. In addition to the Zika virus, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can also transmit dengue fever, Chikungunya virus, West Nile virus, and Yellow Fever.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, babies born with the Zika virus transmitted from their mothers who contracted the disease while pregnant have developed microcephaly – disease which causes the babies’ brains and heads to shrink. Women who are pregnant or could become pregnant should avoid travel to Zika-affected areas, including Florida.

The Florida Department of Health announced in June that there had been the first confirmed case of microcephaly in a baby born in Florida.

Florida counties where the Zika virus has been detected as of July 27, 2016 (excluding 53 pregnant cases):

County	Number of Cases (all travel related)
Alachua	5
Brevard	8
Broward	55
Charlotte	1
Citrus	2
Clay	3
Collier	4
Duval	6
Escambia	2
Highlands	1
Hillsborough	10
Lake	1
Lee	6
Manatee	1
Martin	1
Miami-Dade	96
Okaloosa	2
Okeechobee	1
Orange	40
Osceola	18
Palm Beach	18
Pasco	6
Pinellas	7
Polk	12
Santa Rosa	1
Seminole	12
St. Johns	3
St. Lucie	1
Volusia	5
Total cases not involving pregnant women	328