My family and I were due to fly to Florida on the 27th August but following medical advice we decided we shouldn't go because I'm pregnant. Now Virgin is refusing to refund us.

The billboards - paid for by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and erected in and around Fort Lauderdale - showed a condom with the words 'Prevents Zika transmission' inside it.

The mosquito-borne infection arrived in the US last month, but has so far been restricted to a few blocks in Wynwood, a neighborhood of Miami-Dade County.

This summer families have been warned to protect children with bug spray and clothing. But now the onus falls on teachers to protect the 7,600 students attending school in the two outbreak zones.

A patient has been diagnosed with Zika in Pinellas County. The area just outside Tampa is 265 miles away from Miami on the other side of the peninsula from the original outbreak zone.

Alice Rowland, 28, from Northampton, attempted to cancel her and 26-year-old partner Jefferson George’s flights to Dominica after her doctor advised her against travelling.

So far 483 people in New York City have been diagnosed with Zika, and 49 of those were pregnant at the time of their diagnosis.

The move, ordered by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, is a major expansion in a bid intended to protect the nation's blood supply from the mosquito-borne virus.

The discovery by Florida State University has been hailed as a medical breakthrough as federal regulators race to find treatment for the infection, which is spreading through the US.

The finding makes clear the need for pesticide programs that kill both adult mosquitoes and their eggs. Current methods are not adequate, warns study co-author Dr Robert Tesh of the University of Texas.

Zabina Mirza was due to travel with Thomson Airways to Orlando but decided to cancel her trip after the outbreak of the virus but says the alternatives offered were not suitable.

Hermine made landfall in Florida early Friday as a Category 1 hurricane with forecasters warning as much as 20 inches of rain on Thursday.

Until now, scientists have tentatively suggested that there may be a link between the virus and Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune condition when the body attacks itself after an infection.

Previous advice published on June 7 only urged men to abstain, and only for a maximum of eight weeks.

Even with pre-clinical and early stage clinical trials underway, we still may not see a Zika vaccine licensed and approved for use in humans for years.

Researchers studied 11 babies diagnosed with Zika and found they had a range of neurological impairments aside from microcephaly that cause life-long neurological damage.

Researchers at Glasgow University have been able to shed more light on how the Zika virus works by sequencing the full-length genome of the virus from a patient in Brazil.

Tyler Fischer, 29, from New York posed as a broadcast journalist in an elaborate prank in which he claimed the Democrat presidential candidate had withdrawn from the race because of illness.

The sudden onslaught of floods and torrential rain brought by Matthew over the weekend to Florida's east coast has destroyed areas of contained water where the species which carry the disease thrives.

It comes after the intense storms last week, leaving swathes of standing water, which is ideal breeding ground for Zika-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

There are now 160 local infections in Florida as the spread shows no sign of slowing down despite its disappearance from headlines.

The CDC had previously urged testing for pregnant women who had been in one of the county's Zika 'hot zones.' On Wednesday, it extended the advice to the entire county.

Two British tourists have contracted the Zika virus after travelling to Florida, US, and pregnant women have been advised to cancel all 'non-essential' travel to the American state.

Experts at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri warn that if the 'dramatic' findings, in mice, apply to humans it could lead to an epidemic of infertility caused by the disease.

The Dept of Commerce says 74m US residents travelled internationally in 2015 - a 9% rise on the previous year. Of those, 33m travelled overseas, with the UK the most popular destination.

Two weeks ago, two British tourists in Florida were reported to have contracted Zika. The news came as the richest man in the world announced the details of a major project to tackle the problem.

Monroe County residents have backed a proposal to release a lab-developed group of mosquitoes designed to infect the Zika-carrying mosquito population with a fatal disease.

None of the rats tested at Philadelphia's Wistar Institute contracted Zika after getting the vaccine. It is the best result of a Zika vaccine to date, and it is the same being tested in the first human trials.

The mosquito-borne virus sparked global panic this year after millions were infected, causing scores of babies to be born with birth defects such as microcephaly.

Officials lifted the warning on Tuesday, saying more than 45 days had passed since they have found a new last local case of the mosquito-borne infection.

The state reported its first case of Zika likely transmitted by a mosquito on Monday after lab results confirmed their suspicions. The patient is a woman near the Mexico border.

Cases of sexual spread of Zika have been reported in other countries such as the US. Experts said the UK case was ‘not unexpected’.

Tony Gardner said he was bitten by an infected mosquito while shooting scenes for the crime comedy in the islands of Guadeloupe this summer.

Australian swimmer-turned-commentator, Giaan Rooney, has announced she's pregnant with her second child, just months after travelling to Brazil amid the Zika virus concerns

In a new map from St Louis University in Missouri, countries along the Mississippi Delta were found to pose the highest risk for Zika transmission as well as some on the Atlantic coast.

Official data says just 16 Zika-infected babies have been born since the mosquito-born illness swept the Americas last year. However, more than 3,300 pregnant women got the virus in 2016.

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District released 20,000 male mosquitoes infected by the Kentucky-based company MosquitoMate with naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found 100 percent of monkey fetuses had traces of the virus - causing inflammation of the optic nerves. They say it could apply to humans.

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology have found a way to kill the Zika virus using compounds found in an Australian native plant.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found that a malaria drug blocks Zika from infecting the fetus. It is the first sign of a drug that could prevent Zika birth defects.

A man was diagnosed with the Zika virus in Texas, which is the first infection transmitted from a mosquito local to the country this year.

With Australian Survivor set to return on Sunday, host Jonathan LaPaglia revealed he thought he had contracted the Zika virus while filming the reality show

The virus lingers in the blood stream and saliva for up to about two weeks after infection, and remains in bodily fluids like semen for months. But NIH scientists confirm a kiss is not dangerous.

FEMA is using modified Air Force C-130 aircraft to spray chemicals in Houston and likely Florida to help control disease-carrying mosquitoes from breeding in the regions following recent storms.

University of Southern California researchers found that the Zika virus works by suppressing a pregnant woman's immune system, enabling the virus to spread and harm an unborn baby.

A couple in Miami tested positive for the Zika virus that was sexually transmitted after one of the partners traveled to several countries, including Cuba.

An Australian man has been diagnosed with the deadly Zika virus after returning from a holiday in Cuba. He was initially misdiagnosed after coming back from his holiday in central America.

The CDC has tracked the progress of 19 babies with Zika-related microcephaly since birth and reports that as they approach their second birthdays, most face significant developmental delays.

In a first for the California county, a Los Angeles woman has contracted Zika by having sex with a man who was infected with the virus. It is rarely sexually transmitted, and women are at worse risk.

Gympie Regional Council will go on a three-month hunt from April to inspect all still water sources in a bid to stamp out the potentially lethal insects.