The U.S. Center for Disease Control extended its advisory Friday in Miami, warning pregnant women to avoid the South Beach area, which has been identified as an infection zone.
The CDC said pregnant women should also continue to avoid the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, where the first local transmission of the Zika virus in the United States was detected.
Florida governor Rick Scott confirmed earlier Friday that tourist-heavy South Beach was the second area of Zika transmission in the continental U.S. He told reporters that five new Zika infections had been linked to the area.
The mosquito-borne virus, first detected in Brazil last year, is relatively mild in most cases. However, pregnant women who are infected with Zika risk giving birth to babies with a congenital defect called microcephaly, which causes an abnormally small head and developmental problems.
Florida's Department of Health said there are 35 cases of likely local transmission in the state, including the two new cases that were identified Thursday outside of the Wynwood neighborhood.
