Number of home-grown Zika cases in Miami rises to 15

Mosquito repellent being sprayed in Miami.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Florida health officials say there are now 15 people in the Miami area with Zika virus that they contracted locally.

The mosquito-borne virus causes microcephaly and other birth defects, and pregnant women are being told to stay away from a one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami where "active transmission" of the virus is ongoing. On Friday, the first four cases of Zika contracted from mosquitoes in the United States were confirmed in Florida. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are also 336 people with Zika in Florida who traveled to the state from elsewhere.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.