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An alligator in the water in Everglades National Park, Florida. AP/Press Association Images
reaching america
Mosquitoes in Florida may now be spreading the Zika virus
Four new US cases are not linked to travel and health officials are looking at whether it’s down to mosquitoes.
HEALTH OFFICIALS IN Florida are investigating whether four cases of the Zika virus may have been spread by local mosquitoes.
Two more mysterious cases of the virus are now being looked at, bringing the total to four.
So far, about 1,400 Zika infections have been reported in the US but most of these have been linked to travel to countries with Zika outbreaks in Latin America or the Caribbean.
These four cases are not thought to be linked to travel.
About 15 of the US cases have been sexually transmitted while one was acquired in a laboratory, according to medical news outlet Stat.
The four new cases have raised the possibility that mosquitoes in the US have begun to spread the virus, although officials say they are still looking into the cases and have not come to a conclusion.
The four cases are in neighbouring Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
- With reporting by Associated Press
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