Florida agriculture officials today said Zika virus has been detected in three mosquito samples collected from a small area in Miami Beach, the first such finding in mosquitoes in the continental United States, as the state and newly affected Singapore report more locally acquired infections.
Also today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said four Zika samples from recent cases in Guinea-Bissau are part of the African lineage, not the one spreading in the Americas, and Japan-based Takeda announced a US government contract to develop a Zika vaccine.
Three positives of 2,470 tested
The mosquitoes that tested positive were collected from an area of increased trapping and intensified mosquito control efforts as part of the investigation into local transmission, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) said today in a press release.
The positive mosquito pools were in an area in the zone treated in response to local transmission. FDACS scientists did the initial testing, and the results were confirmed by labs at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Florida Gulf Coast University.
Adam Putnam, Florida's agriculture commissioner, said in the statement, "This find is disappointing, but not surprising. Florida is among the best in the nation when it comes to mosquito surveillance and control, and this detection enables us to continue to effectively target our resources."
Officials said tests on 95 mosquito samples submitted by Miami-Dade County after the positive samples were turned in for testing all yielded negative results and that mosquito control teams will continue their proactive and aggressive efforts to battle the mosquitoes.
County mosquito control teams have targeted a 1/8-mile radius around the positive Miami Beach surveillance traps for eliminating mosquito breeding grounds by draining standing water and spraying as needed.
The FDACS said since May it has tested more than 2,470 mosquito samples, which contained 40,000 mosquitoes.
Experts have said it might be difficult to find positive mosquito samples, even in outbreak situations. Several months passed in Brazil's outbreak before officials isolated Zika in a mosquito sample there.
Florida, Singapore report more local cases
The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) today reported two more locally acquired Zika infections, both in Miami-Dade County. One is linked to an active transmission area in Miami Beach. The other is linked to the Wynwood active transmission area north of downtown and involves a patient who was sick in July. Florida Health said it just received CDC results to rule out other mosquito-borne illnesses.
The new cases lift Florida's local Zika case total to 49.
Also today the state reported 7 more travel related cases, boosting that number to 576.
In international developments, Singapore's health ministry reported 31 more local cases, including 3 that aren't part of already noted clusters. One of the newly identified Zika infections is in a pregnant woman, the second such case to be reported in as many days.
Singapore's health ministry doesn't list a case total, but the new reports today presumably lift the number of cases to 146.
In a related development, Malaysia today announced its first Zika case, involving a 58-year-old woman who had visited Singapore on Aug 19, according to Channel News Asia report that cited comments from health minister Dr Subramaniam Sathasivam, who spoke at a press conference.
The woman's daughter, who lives in Singapore, is also infected with the Zika virus, according to the report.
CDC: 199 more pregnant women infected
The CDC said today in its weekly update on Zika case numbers that 199 more infections in pregnant women have been detected, 159 of them from the US territories. Overall, 624 pregnant women from US states have been infected and 971 pregnant women with Zika from the territories have been reported.
No additional Zika-related pregnancy outcomes were reported for the states or territories. The numbers remained at 16 babies born with Zika-related birth defects in the states, along with 5 pregnancy losses. For the territories, the total remained at 1 baby born with birth defects and 1 Zika-linked pregnancy loss.
Also, the CDC reported 199 more travel-linked Zika cases in US states, putting the overall total at 2,686. In the US territories, the number of local Zika cases soared by 5,091 cases to 14,059, most of them in Puerto Rico, which over the past several weeks has been experiencing a surge in infections.
Guinea-Bissau lineage findings, Takeda vaccine contract
- Initial genetic sequencing of four Zika samples from Guinea-Bissau suggests that they belong to the African lineage, the WHO said today in its weekly Zika update. Health officials have raised concerns about whether the illnesses there represent an expansion of the America's outbreak into Africa. The WHO's Zika emergency committee met today by teleconference, and the WHO will release the outcome of the deliberations tomorrow in a media telebriefing.
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals, based in Japan, announced today that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has selected its vaccine unit to develop an inactivated, adjuvanted whole-virus Zika vaccine. The $19.8 million contract will cover development through phase 1 testing and could total $312 million if BARDA exercises an option to take the vaccine through phase 3 trials and licensing.
See also:
Sep 1 FDACS press release
Sep 1 Florida Health daily Zika update
Sep 1 Singapore health ministry statement
Sep 1 Channel News Asia story
Sep 1 CDC update from Zika pregnancy registries
Sep 1 CDC update on Zika-affected pregnancies and births
Sep 1 CDC state and territory Zika case counts
