For the study, researchers examined more than 250 cases of locally acquired Zika and analyzed the genomes of 39 Zika virus isolates extracted from 32 infected individuals. Researchers were not only able to determine the timeline of the introduction of the virus to Miami’s mosquito population, but also its origin.
“Miami and South Florida particularly had this correspondence of lots of travelers from the Caribbean as well as high densities of Aedes aegypti [mosquitoes] that could support local transmission,” said Derek Cummings, PhD, a professor of biology at the University of Florida in Gainesville and one of the study authors, according to NPR. “Both the genetics and the travel data supported that the majority of locally acquired Zika cases were coming from Caribbean origin.”
In a commentary on the study, Michael Worobey, PhD, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, wrote: “The responses to the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks undoubtedly involved great courage and ingenuity, but they have looked too much like valiant bucket brigades organized after the fire is out of control. We should be detecting such outbreaks within days or weeks through routine, massive, sequence-based approaches — not months or years later, when clinical symptoms have accumulated.”
At least 285 people were infected with locally acquired Zika in 2016, according to the Florida Department of Health.
More articles on the Zika virus:
1 in 4 babies born to Zika-infected mothers receive proper follow up
Johns Hopkins: Zika could cost US $183M to $1.2B this summer
Lab test error leads to false negative for pregnant woman, 2 others with Zika
