CDC strengthens Zika travel guidance for Miami-Dade

Brian Zimmerman -

With local Zika transmission persisting in two Miami neighborhoods — Miami Beach and Little River — the CDC has updated the travel advisory for Miami-Dade County.

The updated guidance strengthens travel recommendations for pregnant women. The agency now designates areas with active local transmission as "red areas." Geographic spaces where local transmission has been identified, but the intensity of transmission is not comparable to that in red areas, are now designated as "yellow areas." The CDC recommends pregnant women avoid travel to yellow areas and especially avoid travel to red areas.

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The new recommendations also place added emphasis on Zika testing. The agency now recommends pregnant women who have lived in or traveled to any area of Miami-Dade County — or had unprotected sex with someone living or traveling in the area — be tested for Zika. Previously, the agency recommended pregnant women who traveled to transmission zones or lived and worked in such areas should be tested for Zika in their first and second trimesters, even if they were not displaying symptoms. The CDC update also reinforces the agency's prior prevention recommendations, including practicing protected sex for those who spent time in designated transmission zones.

"Zika continues to pose a threat to pregnant women living in or traveling to Miami-Dade County," said Lyle Petersen, MD, director of the CDC Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. "Our guidance today strengthens our travel advice and testing recommendations for pregnant women, to further prevent the spread of the infection among those most vulnerable."

Currently, 4.5-square-miles of Miami Beach and one-square-mile of Little River are designated red areas.

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