Health officials in Illinois said Thursday that 46 people were confirmed as having the Zika virus across the state — three pregnant women among those.
There are no species of mosquitoes capable of transmitting the Zika virus in Illinois, officials said, meaning people with the virus contracted it outside of the state.
“We do not have the main mosquito - Aedes Egypti - it does not survive our cold weather, so in that way we're lucky to have cold weather, I suppose,” Allison Arwady, MD, Chief Medical Officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health, told ABC News in Chicago.
[Also: CDC says widespread Zika infections are unlikely]
The Aedes Aegypti mosquito carries the Zika virus. Another mosquito, Aedes Albopictus, may carry the virus, but is rare in the Chicago area.
Health officials also said that five other pregnant women in Illinois are awaiting test results from the CDC to determine if they have Zika or Dengue fever.
Zika, which is spread to people through mosquito bites, can cause severe birth defects. It is believed to cause microcephaly, or abnormally small heads and severe developmental problems, in babies whose mothers are infected with the disease. The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis.
Meanwhile, in a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, federal and state health officials said at least 15 people were infected with the virus by local mosquitoes. The cases represent the first Zika infections transmitted by mainland American mosquitoes.
“Zika is unprecedented,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden, MD said at a press conference Thursday with Florida governor Rick Scott and state health officials. “We’ve never before had a mosquito-borne disease that can cause birth defects.”
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