SOURCE: U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (countries with active transmission); Map by Mapping Specialists, Graphic by Jen Christiansen
Join Our Community of Science Lovers!
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Zika burst into the international news this year, along with travel alerts, heartbreaking images of children with birth defects and a link to an autoimmune disease that can cause paralysis. The virus first surfaced in this country back in 2007, when an American medical volunteer contracted the disease during an outbreak in Micronesia and then became sick with it back in Alaska. Since then, more than 50 cases have been identified in the U.S. Almost every one of these patients contracted Zika while abroad, but at least two infections were acquired via sexual contact.
Because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not provide detailed state-by-state breakdowns of Zika cases, Scientific American gathered and analyzed information from the health departments of all 50 states and the District of Columbia and followed up with some county and city health officials. The result is this exclusive map of how the virus first made its way to the U.S.
SOURCE: U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (countries with active transmission); Map by Mapping Specialists, Graphic by Jen Christiansen
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
Thank you,
Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American
