NEW YORK CITY — The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has expanded its guidelines on who should be tested for the Zika virus, according to an alert the agency sent health care providers last week.
As of Aug. 2, health officials said that any New Yorker over the age of 5 should be screened if they exhibit three or more of the disease's most common symptoms: fever, a widespread, bumpy skin rash, joint pain, or pinkeye.
Younger children are excluded from the guidelines because many childhood viral diseases have the same symptoms.
Previously only symptomatic travelers returning from Zika-affected areas, their sexual partners, and pregnant women with either possible first-hand or sexual exposure to Zika were advised to get tested.
The change in policy comes as the number of locally-transmitted cases continues to rise in Florida. The Florida Health Department has so far reported 21 cases linked to an outbreak in a neighborhood south of Miami, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a travel advisory for the area for pregnant women and those trying to conceive.
There have been no reported cases of Zika transmission by mosquitoes in New York, according to last week's health department alert.
“We consider the likelihood of there being local mosquito borne transmission here very low," Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control with the city's health department, told the New York Times.
"But because we have a large number of imported cases, there is always the possibility.”
While Zika is primarily spread by a species of mosquito, the Aedes aegypti that favors warm tropical climates, a related species makes its home in New York — Aedes albopictus. Researchers have yet to determine how effectively that mosquito can transmit Zika in this climate.
In addition to children included in the expanded guidelines, any pregnant woman who has visited Zika-affected areas or whose sexual partner has traveled to those areas should be tested, the Health Department said.
Men returning from areas with a Zika outbreak presenting symptoms should also be tested and use protection during sex for six months.
While the virus causes mild or no illness in most adults, it has been shown to cause serious birth defects in children born to women who are infected.
The city's efforts to protect residents has involved the selection of 21 primary care clinics and emergency departments as "sentinel sites" across the five boroughs, the testing of local mosquitoes for Zika virus, and multiple pesticide sprayings.
