MIAMI, Fla. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an advisory for a Miami neighborhood, setting up a de facto quarantine for pregnant women.
The Wynwood neighborhood in Miami is an area where officials know the Zika virus is being spread by local mosquitoes.
The advisory applies to anyone who was in the area after June 16.
The area covers less than one square mile on the Atlantic coast just north of downtown Miami but by census estimates has a population of almost 8,000.
The CDC advisory does not ban anyone from entering or leaving the area, but warned that the peril for pregnant woman is dire.
The Zika virus can cause severe mental and physical birth defects in children if a woman is infected while pregnant, the CDC said.
“Pregnant women should not travel to this area,” the CDC advisory said.
Pregnant women and their partners living in, or traveling through, the area should take extra steps to prevent mosquito bites, the CDC said.
Pregnant women should not have unprotected sex with their partner as the Zika virus can be transmitted via sexual contact, the CDC said.
Pregnant women should be assessed for exposure at every prenatal care visit and anyone who has been in the Zika hot zone should be tested for the virus during their first and second trimester, the CDC said.
For people planning to get pregnant, women who have had the Zika virus should wait eight weeks before attempting to conceive; men should wait six months, the CDC said.
The Zika virus has an incubation period of up to two weeks before an infected individual could start to show symptoms, which include fever, a rash, joint pain and red eyes.