Pregnant
women have been told to avoid travelling to the Miami area affected by the Zika
virus, as 10 new cases are confirmed.
The warning comes as officials
confirm a total of 14 cases in the state, all thought to have been spread by
local mosquitoes.
Four were announced on
Friday. Two of the cases are women and 12 are men.
The area to avoid is inside a
one-mile section north of downtown Miami, a district known as Wynwood.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention also said men and women who have recently visited the area
should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive a child.
Because Zika infection has been
found to linger in sperm for months, men with Zika symptoms should wait at
least six months before trying to have a baby with their partner.
Pregnant women who live in or
have visited Miami-Dade after 15 June should also be tested for Zika, CDC
director Dr Tom Frieden said.
Zika has been associated with the
birth defect microcephaly, which can cause children to be born with abnormally
small heads and brain damage.
Doctor Devi Sridhar, chair
of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University, told Sky News: "Zika in
general is not a serious disease if (adults) catch it - it's flu-like and the
hope is, in two to seven days without treatment, it will clear.
"But the main damage seems
to be in babies.
"If you're pregnant now the
advice is serious consideration for any non-essential travel to any
Zika-affected countries but now including Florida as well.
Officials say this may be the first time in 70 years that they have advised people not to travel to a certain place in the US.
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