The Siege of Miami Has Begun: Zika Mosquitoes Surround The City

It was all fun and games when Zika was a distant threat for vacationers and residents of tropical locales.  Now the genetically modified bloodsuckers are stateside, and these citizen bugs have already infected at least 10 people.

Florida confirmed Monday 10 more homegrown cases of Zika in people infected by local mosquitoes, leading federal health officials to advise women who are pregnant to avoid the area just north of downtown Miami where Zika is spreading.

Women have visited the Wynwood neighborhood in Miamia since June 15 should avoid getting pregnant for at least eight weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Zika appears to have begun spreading among mosquitoes in this area around June 15.

This is the first time in recent memory that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned people to avoid a community in the continental U.S. because of an outbreak, said Thomas Frieden, CDC director.

At Florida’s request, the CDC is sending an emergency response team to the state to help control the outbreak. Two CDC staff are already working in Florida, with six more planning to join them.

The new Zika cases in Miami bring the number of Zika infections spread by local mosquitoes — as opposed to foreign travel — to 14.

Controlling the cluster of Zika cases is proving difficult, Frieden said.

“We don’t have ideal ways to control the mosquitoes that control Zika,” Frieden said. “In Miami, aggressive mosquito control measures don’t seem to be working as well as we would have liked.”

This is a way bigger deal than is being reported amid an election year.  The attack is being conducted by millions of Ant-Man sized soldiers, fully prepared to give their life in their campaign to spread the brain damaging virus.