Florida Gov. Rick Scott Confirmed Five Non-travel Related Zika Case

Health officials are scrambling to contain a potential new outbreak of the Zika virus after the first locally transmitted infection was confirmed in Pinellas County, Florida.

The Florida Department of Health is planning to conduct door-to-door testing and outreach in the neighborhood where the infection was detected.

The effort to track down people who had contact with the infected person, known as an epidemiological investigation, will also extend into Hillsborough County, officials said.

Targeted mosquito spraying to limit the spread of the virus is also taking place.

Vaccines for the Zika virus are not available.

Gov. Rick Scott said "This person did not travel to an infected area with Zika; we are looking at a number of locations,"

Scott said. "Hopefully something good will happen and it will just be a single case. But if we do find out, what we will do is we will be very aggressive."

Dr. Celeste Philip, the Florida state surgeon general, said the virus may have been contracted through a mosquito bite.

Health officials are expected to investigate the Pinellas case by retracing the patient's recent steps, talking to co-workers and testing family members, said Philip, the surgeon general.

She said the fact that officials can't find any evidence of local ongoing transmission is reassuring.

The most likely way the virus arrived was via an infected South Florida resident traveling to Pinellas.

About 80 percent of infected people exhibit no symptoms, meaning they go about their normal routine instead of being home-bound and largely quarantined.

While Zika can be harmless to many humans, it can be devastating for fetuses. It has been linked to birth defects including microcephaly, or babies born with small heads.

Governor Scott said health officials have tested nearly 4,000 people around the state and have the capacity to test about 6,500 more. The state is also giving out Zika prevention kits that include insect repellent, condoms and mosquito nets.