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By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A new Zika zone was declared Thursday by Florida health officials, only weeks after a nearby neighborhood was cleared of the mosquito-borne virus following aggressive aerial spraying of insecticides.
The new area is roughly three miles north of Wynwood in Miami, where the first local outbreak of Zika occurred. Five people -- two women and three men -- have been infected so far, according to the Florida Department of Health. Three are local residents, while the other two visited or worked there.
Florida now has three areas where Zika has been spread locally, although Wynwood is no longer considered an active transmission zone. A section of Miami Beach is the third Zika area.
Zika typically causes mild illness, but it is believed to cause birth defects and severe brain damage in babies born to women who were infected while pregnant.
"We have had more than 1,000 cases of Zika [travel-related and local] in our state, and Miami-Dade County continues to be the only area with ongoing active transmissions," Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement.
"I have continued to provide state funding to Miami-Dade County and this week, I allocated an additional $7 million for the county to fight mosquitoes," Scott added. "We have seen that aggressive mosquito control efforts have worked in areas like Wynwood and we hope the county also aggressively sprays in this area so we can limit the spread of this virus and protect pregnant women and their growing babies."
In response to the latest setback in Florida, officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that pregnant women should avoid traveling to the new Zika zone, and they should consider postponing non-essential travel to the rest of Miami Dade.
In clearing the Wynwood neighborhood of Zika, a combination of insecticides was needed to beat back the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus, state and health officials have said.
While ground spraying was ineffective, aerial spraying with the insecticides naled and Bti (bacillus Thuringensis) dramatically reduced the mosquito population and local transmission of Zika, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said at the time.