The gathering, which was held to discuss a simulated emergency, was at the Polk County Emergency Operations Center near Winter Haven, Fla., Infected people generally exhibit mild symptoms, however, the public health issue was exacerbated this spring after the virus was linked to serious birth defects and fetal death.
So far, six cases of travel-related Zika have been reported in Polk County. Statewide, there are 220 cases of travel-related Zika among people who are not pregnant and 43 travel-related cases among pregnant women.
No cases of local transmission have been reported in the United States but health officials expect that it is only a matter of time since Zika is widespread in much of the Caribbean, Latin America, the Pacific islands and in parts of South America and Africa.
The virus is spread by a mosquito species, Aeges aegypti, that is common in Florida and other areas of the country and can also be transmitted sexually among humans.
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ascertained that the virus can be transmitted through semen. But health officials have not determined how long it remains active in seminal fluid — a few weeks or a few months, Joy Jackson, director of the Florida Department of Health in Polk, told those in attendance. For that reason, in places where the virus is found pregnant women, women who want to become pregnant and their partners are urged to take precautions, refraining from sex or using condoms correctly each time.
The Florida Department of Health developed the tabletop exercise and distributed it to each county health department with instructions to convene gatherings.
Among the responses raised by Wednesday's exercises:
— As soon as a possible local case is identified by a physician, county epidemiologists can speed the testing process by driving the specimen to the state testing lab in Tampa rather than waiting for Federal Express. If the virus is active in the blood, the results should be back within three hours; if the person was previously infected, the results could take up to three days. — Leslie McKay, county epidemiologist.
— Polk Mosquito Control will set up traps specifically designed to capture Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the immediate neighborhood and will send captured mosquitoes to the state agricultural lab to test for the virus. — Carl Boohene, director of mosquito control.
— Mosquito control will spray the neighborhoods where the person with the suspected case has frequented and inspectors will go house to house in his or her neighborhood to eliminate any containers of standing water where the mosquitoes could breed. — Boohene.
— The Department of Health's county communications department will alert hospitals, medical clinics and other agencies' communications department, advising of a suspected case and telling them to provide general awareness information to the public and media until the case is confirmed. — Scott Sjoblom, communications manager, Department of Health in Polk.
— Once a local-transmission case is confirmed, the county Department of Health will call for Level-2 activation of the Emergency Operation Center to gather public information officers from multiple agencies to deal with the expected onslaught of calls and questions from the public. The director of Volunteer Polk will call in people to help with distributing fliers and information door to door in affected areas — Jackson.
— Epidemiologists will go door-to-door in affected neighborhoods and check for people exhibiting symptoms (such as red eyes, rash, mild fever) and to look for women who may be pregnant, to offer them testing or to follow through with the women's private physicians to ensure they are tested — McKay.
— Mosquito control will continue efforts to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds by going door-to-door emptying containers of standing water, advising residents about how to eliminate breeding grounds and will continue spraying. “Time is of the essence; we want to get those mosquitoes before the virus spreads." — Boohene.
The modules raised several issues that the county needs to ensure are addressed: communicating about prevention to church groups that are traveling overseas to Zika-infested areas; ensuring that prevention services are extended to vulnerable populations, such as people who are homeless or work outdoors, including farm workers and cable and phone installers, and public utilities workers; and ensuring that Spanish-speaking and Creole-speaking volunteers are available in the event they are needed to canvas an impacted neighborhood.
“When this hits, we have to be able to roll within 24 hours,” Jackson warned the group.
— Marilyn Meyer can be reached at marilyn.meyer@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. Follow her on Twitter @marilyn_ledger.
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