Zika bug warning for randy British tourists in Florida over virus outbreak as disease sweeps US
Holiday makers are being warned not to have unprotected sex as infection hits the state
HOLIDAY Brits in Florida have been told to avoid unprotected sex due to the Zika virus.
Pregnant women have also been urged to scrap trips to the hotspot because of the outbreak.
Health chiefs raised the risk of infection to “moderate” after four people in the southern state contracted the virus.
More than 1.5million Brits go every year, many to see Walt Disney World.
Public Health England warns them not to have sex without a condom for eight weeks.
The virus causes a mild illness in most people but the risks are greater with pregnant women.
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Some experts fear Zika will now spread across the US but officials in Miami said they believed the cases were confined to an area north of the city.
The three men and a woman are thought to be the first to contract the feared mosquito-borne virus inside the US.
PHE medical director Prof Paul Cosford said of the Florida alert: “Pregnant women are advised to consider postponing non-essential travel. Advice to travellers remains to avoid mosquito bites.”
More than 50 people in Britain have been treated for Zika. They had been to either South-East Asia or South America.
It is thought to lead to microcephaly, which stunts head and brain development in babies.
Olympic host Brazil is high risk with more than 7,500 cases.