Texas confirms first locally transmitted case of Zika

by Sarah Ferris - 11/28/16 4:13 PM ET

Texas has reported its first locally transmitted case of the Zika virus, health officials said Monday.

A woman in Cameron County tested positive for Zika last week but reported no recent travel to a Zika-infected country, health officials said in a statement.

{mosads}The area — the southernmost point in Texas — is the second in the lower 48 states to report locally transmitted cases.

Cameron County shares a border with Mexico, where mosquitoes have been spreading Zika for months.

Florida is the only other state in the U.S. that has reported locally transmitted cases. About 4,400 people have tested positive for Zika in U.S. states and the District of Columbia, though the vast majority of cases are linked to travel abroad.

Dr. John Hellerstedt, the state health commissioner, said in a statement that he didn’t believe the virus would become “widespread” in Texas but urged people to take precautions because there could be more cases in the warm region.

“We knew it was only a matter of time before we saw a Zika case spread by a mosquito in Texas,” Hellerstedt wrote.

The Zika virus poses a direct threat to pregnant women because the disease has been linked to birth defects. The Centers for Disease Control has urged pregnant women to avoid travel to dozens of countries, including Mexico, where the virus is actively spreading.

Texas health officials are working with the Centers for Disease Control to investigate the case and to respond with outreach and possibly more mosquito surveillance.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden praised the response in Texas so far, underscoring that officials are “responding rapidly to the current situation with a community-wide search for additional Zika cases.”

“Texas is doing the right thing by increasing local surveillance and trapping and testing mosquitoes in the Brownsville area,” he said.

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