The Florida Department of Health today reported the first case of sexually transmitted zika that is registered in the state in 2017 and involves a person who was recently in Cuba.
That person from Pinellas County, who presented symptoms of zika after his trip, infected the virus with another person with whom he had sex, he said, without giving further details to the Department of Health.
Florida was the scene last year of an outbreak of zika transmitted by local mosquitoes, the first in the United States, but this year there have been no cases of local transmission, according to authorities.
Zika is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes or from person to person through sexual intercourse. It can also be transmitted from a pregnant woman to the waiting child, who may suffer from microcephaly and neurological problems.
According to figures from the Department of Health, from 1 January to 1 August 2017, 118 cases of zika have been registered, of which 90 correspond to people who were infected abroad.
The figure includes six cases of local transmission for 2016 but confirmed by tests in 2017 and 22 of which the details are unknown.
Of the total of 118 cases, 81 were pregnant women.
