Florida officials are investigating what may be the nation’s first Zika case transmitted locally by an infected mosquito, the state’s health department announced on Tuesday night.
Officials said in a statement they were investigating a “possible non-travel related case of Zika virus in Miami-Dade County” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of Tuesday afternoon, all 88 known transmissions in Miami-Dade County were believed to be travel-related, according to the state, meaning that those 88 people became infected with the virus while traveling to a Zika-affected country. So far, no one in the continental US has contracted the Zika virus via an infected mosquito domestically.
Zika typically causes only mild symptoms, and most people infected do not display any symptoms. However, recent research in Latin America found that the infection in pregnant women caused severe birth defects such as microcephaly. The CDC has confirmed more than 1,300 cases of the virus in the US.
Most known cases of Zika were spread by mosquitoes, although the virus can also be passed on through sexual contact. Health officials are investigating a medical mystery in Utah after a local man with the virus passed it to his caregiver, although the two did not have sex and the type of mosquito that usually carries the virus isn’t found in the high-altitude area where the two lived.
The man, who died in June, was infected by the mosquito while travelling in a Zika-affected country. He was the first person with Zika to die in the US, though his exact cause of death is being determined.
