A mosquito-borne illness originally found in the Tampa Bay area has been confirmed in a human for the first time, according to University of Florida researchers. 
 
 The Keystone virus, named after the northwestern Hillsborough County area where it was initially identified in 1964, has been found in animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 UF researchers have been sequencing the virus since August 2016, when a 16-year-old boy in North Central Florida showed up to a clinic with a rash and fever during the Zika virus epidemic in Florida and the Caribbean. The report was published June 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. 
 
 Because of concerns about Zika, laboratory samples were collected from the patient, but studies were negative for Zika or related viruses. 
 
 But the researchers found Keystone virus when they did viral cultures from the patient samples. Although the teenager did not report symptoms of encephalitis, lab studies indicate that Keystone virus can infect brain cells, and may pose a risk for brain infections. 
 
 Dr. Glenn Morris, director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, said until now, there hasn't been a way to test for the virus. 
 
 "We couldn't identify what was going on,” Morris said. “We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was.” 
 
 Morris said biotech companies are already reaching out to the institute to develop commercial tests that can be used in clinics and hospitals. 
 
 Keystone is spread by aedes atlanticus, a common Florida mosquito and cousin to the mosquito, aedes aegypti, that spreads Zika. 
 
 It’s part of a group of viruses that are known to cause encephalitis - inflammation of the brain - in several species, including humans. Morris said they’re not absolutely certain that Keystone can also cause encephalitis. 
 
 Morris said although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida. A 1972 article in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reported Keystone virus antibodies in 19 to 21 percent of the people tested in the Tampa Bay region. 
 
 “There’s a high likelihood that Keystone virus is continuing to circulate in Florida, as it has for at least 50 or 60 years, and as it may well have for hundreds of years,” Morrisa said. “This is one of our native Florida viruses.” 
 
 "It's likely there have continued to be a fair number of human infections. In most instances, it would appear to be asymptomatic or cause mild infection, fever and a rash." 
 
 Morris emphasized the need for additional research into the prevalence of vector-borne diseases in the United States, and stressed the importance of minimizing the risk of mosquito bites by using mosquito repellent. ||||| Keystone Virus Makes First Known Jump From Mosquitoes To Humans 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Alan Diaz/AP Alan Diaz/AP 
 
 Updated at 10:45 a.m. ET Friday 
 
 Just in time for the hot, humid, bug-bite-riddled summer: Researchers from the University of Florida have confirmed the first known case of a human infected with the mosquito-borne Keystone virus. 
 
 A 16-year-old boy in North Central Florida went to an urgent care clinic after coming down with a fever and a severe rash in August 2016, during the Zika outbreak in Florida and the Caribbean. 
 
 Doctors couldn't figure out what made him sick. They tested for Zika and various other pathogens but hit a series of dead ends. 
 
 "We couldn't identify what was going on," J. Glenn Morris, director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, told NPR member station WUSF. "We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was." 
 
 Researchers published their findings earlier this month in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. 
 
 The virus was first found in the U.S. in 1964, when researchers isolated it from mosquitoes in Keystone, Fla. Since then, it "has been found in animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay," according to a statement from University of Florida Health. 
 
 But until now, there hasn't been a way to test humans for the Keystone virus, which is carried by the Aedes atlanticus mosquito, a cousin to the Zika-spreading Aedes aegypti. 
 
 The virus can cause a rash and mild fever in humans. The teenager did not show signs of encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain — but Keystone is part of a group of viruses "known to cause encephalitis in several species, including humans," said lead study author John Lednicky, a University of Florida research professor in the environmental and global health department of the College of Public Health and Health Professions. 
 
 Morris suspects many people might have the Keystone virus. 
 
 "Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," he said in the statement. 
 
 "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it." ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Maggie Fox 
 
 Florida health officials said Tuesday they were investigating a possible case of Zika that wasn’t carried back by a traveler. 
 
 If it's confirmed, it would be the first evidence that Zika has spread to mosquitoes in the continental U.S. All cases up to now have been in people who traveled to Zika-affected regions or their sexual partners. 
 
 Small, local outbreaks of Zika virus are fully expected in southern states such as Florida, Louisiana and Texas. These states are home to the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that most commonly transmit the virus. 
 
 Aedes aegypti mosquitos are seen in a lab at the Fiocruz Institute on June 2, 2016 in Recife, Brazil. Microcephaly is a birth defect linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus where infants are born with abnormally small heads. Mario Tama / Getty Images 
 
 “Today the Florida Department of Health announced that it is conducting an investigation into a possible non-travel related case of Zika virus in Miami-Dade County,” the health department said in a statement. 
 
 “The department is actively conducting an epidemiological investigation, is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and will share additional details as they become available.” 
 
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 The CDC said it will help investigate. 
 
 "At this time, state and local officials in Florida are leading the investigation, and CDC is closely coordinating with Florida officials. To date, Florida public health officials have confirmed Zika infection through laboratory testing; upon request, CDC will conduct additional laboratory testing," the agency said in a statement. 
 
 "CDC has been working with state, local, and territorial health officials to prepare for the possibility of locally acquired Zika infection in the United States." 
 
 Zika can be transmitted by mosquitoes and, less commonly, through sex. The CDC has predicted that a traveler would eventually be bitten by local mosquitoes and infect them with the virus. After about 10 days, an infected mosquito can then transmit the virus to another person. 
 
 But in the U.S., it’s less common for people to live in the conditions that allow the virus to cause a full epidemic. So the CDC predicts any outbreaks would be limited. 
 
 "CDC has been working with state, local, and territorial health officials to prepare for the possibility of locally acquired Zika infection in the United States," the CDC said. 
 
 "To date, CDC has provided Florida more than $2 million in Zika-specific funding and about $27 million in emergency preparedness funding that can be used toward Zika response efforts. " 
 
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 The Florida health department said it would give out Zika prevention kits and repellant in the area under investigation. “Zika kits are intended for pregnant women,” it said. 
 
 “Mosquito control has already conducted reduction and prevention activities in the area of investigation. Residents and visitors are reminded that the best way to protect themselves is to prevent mosquito bites through practicing good drain and cover methods.” 
 
 Zika virus is most dangerous to pregnant women, because it can cause severe birth defects in babies if they are infected in the womb. It can cause rare complications such as the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome and very rarely can kill or help kill an already ill patient. An elderly man in Puerto Rico died last spring and Utah reported the death of an elderly patient with Zika last week. 
 
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 In Utah, a family caregiver of the patient who died was also infected with Zika and officials there are investigating how it happened, since sexual transmission and mosquitoes can likely be ruled out. 
 
 The CDC’s reported more than 1,300 cases of Zika in the continental U.S., all linked to travelers. Among them, 346 are or have been pregnant women. Nine babies have been born so far with Zika birth defects and another six were miscarried or aborted. 
 
 Health experts caution people in areas where Aedes mosquitoes live to use mosquito repellant, to drain even the smallest reservoirs of standing water in and around homes and to use screens to keep insects out of the house. The mosquitoes that spread Zika bite during the day and prefer to live in and around houses and other structures. 
 
 "It was only a matter of time before the right circumstances aligned in Florida," said Dr. Amesha Adalja of the University of Pittsbuch Medical Center's Center for Health Security. ||||| NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, left, and CDC Director Thomas Frieden, second from left, shake hands with Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education,... (Associated Press) 
 
 NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, left, and CDC Director Thomas Frieden, second from left, shake hands with Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and subcommittee member Sen. Thad... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is shipping Zika virus tests for pregnant women to health departments around the country, but warning there could be temporary shortages, as travelers try to tell if they returned with an infection that could put a developing baby at risk. 
 
 Health officials don't expect widespread transmission of the mosquito-borne virus in the continental United States, but said Thursday that Puerto Rico is especially vulnerable. They asked for emergency funding from Congress to battle an outbreak that is quickly spreading through Latin America. 
 
 "We may see rapid spread through the island and we need to respond urgently," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate appropriations subcommittee. 
 
 The Zika virus is suspected of causing a rare but potentially devastating birth defect, an abnormally small head, which can indicate underlying brain damage. Brazil has reported an apparent increase in cases of that defect, called microcephaly, as Zika exploded in that country, although scientists haven't definitively proven the link. 
 
 "With each passing day the evidence that Zika is causally related gets stronger," Frieden said. "Even in this week, the data that's come out makes it look very much like this is a virus that's what we call neurotropic — it targets the nerve cells." 
 
 His agency last month found the Zika virus in the brain tissue of two dead newborns from Brazil and in placentas from two miscarriages. On Wednesday, European researchers caring for a woman who returned there from Brazil reported a post-abortion autopsy that found the virus in her fetus' severely damaged brain — one a fraction of the proper size and lacking the usual crinkly folds. 
 
 If someone is actively infected, the CDC has a test that diagnoses Zika fairly well. But most people experience no symptoms or very mild one, and the antibody test used to tell afterward if they were infected isn't very accurate. It might reflect prior infection with related viruses instead. 
 
 The CDC is urging pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant not to travel to Zika-affected areas. But if they already did, the CDC is telling doctors to test the women for Zika between two weeks and 12 weeks after they return. Those thought to have been infected then could undergo ultrasound scans to monitor fetal development. 
 
 Frieden said the agency has shipped 62,000 of those Zika tests for pregnant women to health departments and is working on more but "there may be a period of weeks or a couple of months where there aren't enough tests for the women who want to have them done." 
 
 How long after Zika exposure is it safe to get pregnant? Asked by lawmakers, Frieden responded, "If this behaves as other viruses behave, there would be no risk to the next pregnancy after some period of a month or so, but we don't know that for sure." 
 
 The Obama administration has asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight Zika at home and abroad, including mosquito eradication, study of the microcephaly link and developing a vaccine. "We are stretched," Frieden said, telling lawmakers the money is needed fast, within weeks. 
 
 Asked if health officials couldn't instead use unspent money that Congress allocated for Ebola in West Africa, Frieden said those remaining dollars are committed to ensuring the remnants of that outbreak are stamped out. 
 
 Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said later Thursday that the House would act on the Zika spending request, though he said Republicans would search for spending cuts elsewhere in the budget to cover the cost and would "scrub" it for unnecessary items. 
 
 "We do anticipate some kind of bipartisan action on this because this ... is a problem we want to get ahead of," Ryan said.
– A coastal virus that can cause a rash and mild fever has officially infected a person for the first time, NPR reports. Scientists say it took 18 months to figure out that a Florida teen who got sick during the Zika outbreak of 2016 actually had the Keystone virus, which is carried by mosquitos. "We couldn't identify what was going on," J. Glenn Morris, head of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, tells WUSF. "We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was." There wasn't even a test to detect Keystone virus in humans. The 16-year-old boy had a fever and a bad rash, but not the encephalitis (or brain inflammation) that a group of viruses including Keystone can cause in animals. First seen in America in 1964, Keystone is known to infect "animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay," per a University of Florida Health statement. Scientists have long suspected there are human cases, but the new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases confirms it. "The infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," says lead study author John Lednicky. "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it."