State health officials reported four new cases of the Zika virus on Thursday, including a locally transmitted case involving a Palm Beach County resident.
Three cases were travel-related – the individuals were infected outside the state. Those cases involve two people in Miami-Dade County and a pregnant woman whose home county was not identified for privacy reasons.
The Palm Beach County case of local transmission involves a person who traveled to Miami, and state health officials are investigating to determine where the exposure occurred.
Miami-Dade is the only county at this time where Zika is being transmitted by local mosquitoes, according to the state Department of Health. State and federal health officials have warned pregnant women to avoid a 4.5-square-mile zone in Miami Beach and a one-square-mile area in Miami's Little River neighborhood because the Zika virus can cause serious birth defects.
Zika cases in Florida now total 1,048. They include 747 travel-related cases, 166 cases of local transmission, 111 cases with pregnant women and 19 cases involving non-Florida residents. Another five Zika cases were categorized by state health officials as undetermined.
