Mosquitoes test positive for Zika in South Beach; two more local cases in Miami-Dade

Mosquitoes trapped in South Beach have tested positive for Zika, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reported on Thursday — providing the first conclusive proof that insects in the U.S. are carrying the virus.

Florida health officials also reported two more local Zika infections in Miami-Dade, with one case in each of the two areas previously identified as having ongoing spread of the disease by mosquitoes: a section of Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, and a 1.5-square-mile zone in Miami Beach.

 

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Three positive mosquito samples were found inside the Miami Beach zone where Zika is actively spreading. One of the mosquitoes was trapped in the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, which was closed on Monday.

“This find is disappointing, but not surprising,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam, in a written statement announcing the find. “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.”

The state’s agriculture department, which tracks statewide vector control, did not say when the mosquitoes were trapped or when they tested positive. But the announcement noted that 95 additional mosquitoes were tested after the positive samples and all were negative for Zika.

In response to Thursday’s announcement, city and county officials first called a press conference for 2 p.m. at Miami Beach City Hall, but soon after changed the time and location to 3 p.m. at Miami-Dade’s Government Center at 111 Northwest First Street.

In addition to the two local infections reported on Thursday, state health officials also confirmed seven more travel-related cases, including three in Miami-Dade, two in Broward, and one each in Osceola and Sarasota counties.

A total of 705 Floridians have contracted Zika this year, including 576 travel-related cases and 49 local infections. An additional 80 pregnant women in Florida also have tested positive for Zika, though the government does not say where they live.

Miami Beach officials have known since last week that mosquito counts were high in three areas of the city after the Florida Department of Health notified them of their findings and their plans to test in those areas.

In light of the high counts, the city closed the botanical garden on Monday for inspections and testing, redirecting voters from the garden’s precinct to City Hall to cast their ballots in Tuesday’s primary election.

At a Zika community meeting in South Beach on Monday, Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales said, “There have been high counts of mosquitoes on Lincoln Road.” He added that city workers had destroyed dozens of bromeliads, which can serve as breeding grounds for the species of mosquito most capable of transmitting Zika, the Aedes aegypti.

The three positive samples reported Thursday are the first among 2,470 rounds of testing in Florida since May to test positive. In all, more than 40,000 mosquitoes statewide have been tested for Zika.

Department of Agriculture scientists tested the positive samples at the Bronson Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kissimmee. Further testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Florida Gulf Coast University confirmed the results.

Two weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory warning pregnant women to avoid the new South Beach zone, which stretches from Fifth Street north to 28th Street, and from Biscayne Bay east to the Atlantic Ocean. Tourism chiefs had hoped Zika wouldn’t land in the seaside resort city, and they’ve been anxious ever since.

They have good reason to be worried. According a national poll released Thursday, 48 percent of 1,211 adults surveyed said they would not feel comfortable traveling to places in the U.S. where people have been infected with Zika by mosquitoes, like Florida.

Over the past month, county and city officials have ramped up mosquito control efforts in South Beach and a one-square-mile section of Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood — identified on July 29 as the first place in the continental United States to have active spread of Zika by mosquitoes.

Mosquito counts have decreased in Wynwood, officials have reported. But the Beach, a dense urban environment with lots of lush landscaping that can serve as breeding grounds, presents a unique challenge for officials. Bromeliads, for example, are popular and provide an ripe environment for mosquito breeding because they trap water between their leaves.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez noted the county’s mosquito control response in a statement Thursday morning.

“In the 1.5-square-mile area of Miami Beach where locally-acquired cases of Zika were confirmed, Miami-Dade County's Mosquito Control team conducted nearly 2,000 proactive inspections, abatement and treatment of mosquito breeding and adult mosquito activity, and three truck sprayings throughout the area, and in an additional extended area,” he said.

Gimenez, local Florida Department of Health Administrator Lillian Rivera and Beach officials will address the news at Thursday’s press conference in county hall.