For the first time in the Western Hemisphere, researchers have detected the Zika virus in Aedes albopictus, the mosquito species known as the “Asian tiger,” a finding that increases the number of U.S. states potentially at risk for transmission of the disease.

During the summer months when U.S. mosquito populations are at their peak, albopictus are more ubiquitous than the Aedes aegypti that have been the primary vector of the spread of Zika elsewhere in the Americas. Unlike the aegypti mosquito, which is mostly present in southern United States and along the Gulf Coast, the albopictus has a range as far north as New England and the lower Great Lakes. FULL REPORT


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The Zika virus continues to spread throughout the Western Hemisphere, including in wide swaths of Central and South America. Concerns are growing for pregnant women because the mosquito-borne virus has been shown to cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly, characterized by an abnormally small head and brain. Here are the latest updates about the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has deemed a “global health emergency.”

At least 474 people in Puerto Rico have already been diagnosed with Zika as officials race to curb the outbreak. The virus has already been transmitted from mosquitoes to people on the island, unlike in the continental U.S., where no cases have been contracted from an insect. FULL REPORT