PORTLAND, Maine - The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed Maine's first case of the Zika virus.
A Hancock County resident over age 65 tested positive after returning home from one of the Zika-affected countries.
The virus is principally transmitted by a mosquito bite, so Maine epidemiologist Dr. Siiri Bennett says Mainers need not worry about catching the virus from the individual who tested positive.
"If your neighbor comes back having traveled down to the Caribbean, say, and comes down with the Zika virus, you can't get it from them," Bennett says.
So far, at least two dozen Mainers have been tested, with several tests still pending. Dr. Bennett expects to see more positive tests in the weeks ahead.
Bennett says Mainers like to travel to warm places during the winter, and those warm places are also often home to the mosquitos that carry the virus. She says the aedes mosquito, which transmits the Zika virus, isn't found in Maine.
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