Florida's number of Zika virus cases is nearing 100, with its U.S.-leading total rising to 96 Friday following the disclosure of two new Central Florida cases.
Both cases were related to travel to Caribbean and South American nations that have had outbreaks of the mosquito-borne virus, which the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have linked to microcephaly. The birth defect gives babies smaller heads and often smaller brains that have not developed properly.
Friday's cases were the sixth case in Orange County and the first in Pasco County, the Florida Department of Health said. Their disclosures came on the same day that Puerto Rico, the U.S. Caribbean territory that has been seen nearly 600 cases of the virus, reported its first death from Zika.
Palm Beach County has five confirmed cases of the virus. Miami-Dade, with 39, and Broward, with 19, have more than half the state’s total. Five Florida cases involve pregnant women, whose home counties the state has kept private.
Zika symptoms are mild for most adults and last less than a week. They include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. The stakes are higher for women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming so, however, and the CDC recommends that they postpone travel to Zika-affected areas.
The death in Puerto Rico was the first from Zika on U.S. soil. It involved a man in his 70s who developed low levels of platelets, which make blood clot, The Washington Post reported.
Unlike the continental U.S., virtually all of Puerto Rico’s cases have occurred locally through bites from the Aedes mosquito. Of the 572 cases the CDC had confirmed through Wednesday, only two had come through travel to other nations.
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