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VIDEO: 8th person tests positive for Zika virus in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The San Francisco Health Department is confirming another person has tested positive for Zika.

That is the eighth case in the city. All the patients had been traveling in countries where Zika is circulating.


Meanwhile, a chilling development in South Florida where it’s now been confirmed that four people apparently got Zika transmitted by mosquitoes ‘on the U.S. mainland,’ the first such cases.

KRON’s Maureen Kelly went to the San Mateo County Vector Control, where they are on the lookout for mosquitoes that can carry Zika.

“A lot of people think that a mosquito is a mosquito, but there are actually a lot of different kinds of mosquitoes,” vector control spokeswoman Megan Caldwell said.

Caldwell is putting the type of mosquito that can transmit the Zika virus under the microscope. It’s called the Aedes aegypti, a type of mosquito that is not native to our area. But it has been found here before.

Back in 2013, the San Mateo Vector Control worked hard to eradicate the little buggers, but not because of concerns about Zika.

“That wasn’t even on our radar,” Caldwell said. “But we were worried about other viruses…yellow fever…some of those that were at the time very common in Mexico and Central America.”

That type of mosquito hasn’t been seen in these parts since mid-2015, but they are looking for it.

“If we find Aedes aegypti in this county, it is going to be an all hands on deck situation,” Caldwell said.

The good news is that a mosquito with Zika isn’t going to be able to fly from Florida to California, but the kind that can carry the virus can still make it here if they hitch a ride.

“They love our trash, so it’s very easy for one to lay its eggs in a flowerpot or a bucket or any other item that a human might subsequently pick up and load on a truck and bring to another state, another country,” Caldwell said.

The San Mateo Vector control said the risk of getting Zika is very low in the Bay Area. They are more concerned about our native pests that can carry the West Nile virus.

They planned a fogging operation in the Redwood City-Atherton area early Saturday morning because seven dead birds have tested positive for West Nile in that area so far.

That same substance also works on invasive mosquitoes too.