THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Mosquitos love Florida and now mosquitos spread Zika virus. As a result, The Center For Disease Control has issued a travel advisory for portions of Miami Beach as well as Miami.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott confirmed Friday that the Zika virus is being spread locally by mosquitoes in Miami Beach, a development that marks an expansion of the outbreak in South Florida.

"We believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring in Miami Beach,” Scott said at a noon press conference. The suspect zone covers about 1.5 square miles between 8th and 28th streets, and between the beach and the intracoastal waterway -- a stretch that encompasses the city's central tourist area.

Health officials said at least five people have been infected with Zika there, including two who live in Miami Beach. One person from Texas, one from New York and another from Taiwan each have returned home but were infected while traveling in Miami Beach.

The news marks a second front in Miami's fight against local transmission of the virus. Previously, officials had pinpointed local infections in a one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami known as Wynwood. That prompted federal health authorities to urge pregnant women not to visit the area, the first time they ever had warned against travel to a part of the continental United States because of the outbreak of an infectious disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promptly expanded its travel advisory Friday afternoon, saying pregnant women should avoid the designated area of Miami Beach, as well as Wynwood, due to the ongoing Zika transmissions. The agency said that pregnant women and their sexual partners who live in the area or have to travel there should take extra precautions to guard against mosquito bites, including wearing repellent.

Research is being done on a vaccine and other controls for the disease but more needs to be done. One thing we can be sure of, after government financed research finds a vaccine/cure Big Pharma will slap a patent on it and price it according to how big they need their profits to be.