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Florida: 7 babies born with Zika-related birth defects

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Seven babies have been born in Florida with birth defects linked to the Zika virus. The Orlando Sentinel reports that State Surgeon General Dr. Celeste Philip told Orlando-area officials Tuesday that seven babies with Zika-related neurological conditions have been born in Florida since June 2016. Philip did not say where the babies lived or whether their mothers contracted Zika in Florida or while traveling. She said the state hired additional staff to help their families navigate their health care options.…

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Growers: Bromeliads aren’t to blame for Zika in Miami Beach

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Just over a month ago, Miami Beach Botanical Garden was home to over 2,000 colorful, water-trapping bromeliads, some featuring red flowers that burst like fireworks from dark green spirals. Identified as breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry Zika, they’ve all been pulled out, leaving shallow depressions in flower beds and exposing irrigation lines. Walking through the quiet haven in South Beach recently, executive director Sandy Shapiro pointed to where spiky yellow leaves once topped a block of stone at the…

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More bug spray, less dining al fresco planned in Zika zone

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As word spread that Miami’s hippest neighborhood was now considered ground zero for the first mosquito-transmitted infections of the Zika virus in the U.S. mainland, many residents vowed to take precautions, local officials urged tourists not to change travel plans and mosquito-control workers geared up for war against the pests. “Zika is now here,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday. Some Miami residents said Friday that they were stocking up on…

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White House: Congress should get back to work on Zika

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The Latest on the Zika virus in Florida (all times local): 1 p.m. President Obama‘s spokesman says Florida needs more federal money to limit the spread of the Zika virus. White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said Friday’s announcement that South Florida has four mosquito-transmitted cases should be a wake-up call for Congress “to get back to work.” Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought for mosquito control,…

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Patrick Murphy introduces bill to provide resources to local governments to fight the spread of Zika

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Jupiter Democratic Representative and U.S. Senate hopeful Patrick Murphy has introduced the Strengthening Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health (SMASH) Act that would provide resources to state and local governments to help fight the spread of the Zika virus. The bill reauthorizes a lapsed 2003 mosquito-control program and provides $130 million each year for mosquito surveillance efforts. It also reauthorizes epidemiology laboratory capacity grants to support the work of state and local health departments to treat infections diseases like Zika. The bill…

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Fighting Zika ‘starts at home,’ Kathy Castor says

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Flanked by Hillsborough County public health officials, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said Tuesday that for Floridians “fighting Zika starts at home.” “Florida is already leading the country when it comes to the number of Zika cases reported since last year,” Castor said, citing the most recent weekly reports by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State of Florida. “At this point these cases are travel-related, but we want to make sure that our neighbors, especially…

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