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State Adds 3 ‘Travel Related’ Zika Cases

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Florida added three new “travel related” Zika cases during the past week, bringing to 116 the number of reported cases of the mosquito-borne virus this year, according to numbers posted Monday on the state Department of Health website.

State numbers a week earlier showed 113 cases. The state does not have any areas where ongoing transmission of the virus is occurring, according to the Department of Health. But incidences of infected people bringing the virus into the state — known as “travel related” cases — continue to increase. The new numbers show 88 travel-related infections reported this year.

Another 22 cases involve people who were exposed to Zika in 2016 and tested in 2017, with the nature of the exposures listed as “undetermined.” Another six cases involve people who were infected in the state in 2016 and tested in 2017.

Zika is particularly dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects.