A fifth person from New York was confirmed to have contracted the Zika virus while traveling south of the border — and experts warned Wednesday that the disease could spike here and across the United States as mosquito season arrives this spring.
Health officials, citing federal privacy laws, released scant information about the New York cases, which include two from the Big Apple and one each from Nassau, Orange and Monroe counties.
The Nassau resident had traveled to an unidentified country where the virus is spreading, developed mild symptoms in August and completely recovered, officials said.
The Orange resident had visited South America and later tested positive for the virus, county health officials said, without providing details of the severity of the case.
None of the victims was pregnant. Babies of women infected during pregnancy with the virus can be born with microcephaly, a serious birth defect that can result in a smaller brain and skull than normal.
Zika — which has soared in many Caribbean, Latin and South American countries — is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has yet to be found in the US.
But officials fear that its cousin, the aggressive Asian tiger mosquito, which is common in the New York metro area, could rapidly spread the disease after biting people in the US who contracted it by traveling, and then biting others.
“The mosquito causing the epidemic is not found in New York City, but a close relative [the Asian tiger] is found here, and two studies show that the New York City relative can transmit this virus,” said Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control for the city’s Health Department, which is ramping up efforts to educate the public.
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote on his blog that the disease could eventually spread to most of the US, citing a study published in the British medical journal The Lancet.
“The study suggests that Zika virus could eventually reach regions of the United States in which 60 percent of our population lives,” including the East Coast, the South and West Coast, he wrote.
While officials believe the disease is overwhelmingly spread by mosquito bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there had been one report of possible spread through a blood transfusion and another through sex.
Varma said the only New Yorkers currently at risk are those traveling to countries where the disease is already prevalent.
“Make sure you protect yourself against mosquitoes,” he said. “Make sure you wear mosquito repellent. And if you’re a pregnant woman, you should go skiing instead of to the beach.”
The city, he added, is spreading the word on its website and through literature in multiple languages, as well as through outreach to community groups and doctors and health clinics.