First Zika case reported in Manatee County by Florida Department of Health

Manatee County has its first case of the Zika virus, according to the Florida Department of Health.

No details regarding the Manatee County case were released Friday.

Manatee County joined the list as Florida Zika cases topped 300 with 18 new cases reported Friday, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The Florida Department of Health reported an additional 18 imported Zika virus cases with six in Miami-Dade, four in Orange, three in Osceola, two in Polk, one in Hillsborough, one in Manatee and one in Volusia counties.

The Florida declaration of public health emergency has been amended to include Manatee as the 28th county.

Florida cases now total 311, including 43 involving pregnant women regardless of symptoms.

Nationally, as of Wednesday, 1,306 Zika cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC recommends testing for any person with two of the four most common symptoms — fever, joint pain, rash and red eyes — and a travel history to a Zika-infected area. The federal agency also recommends testing for all pregnant women with a travel history, or a partner with travel history, to any area where Zika is transmitted by mosquito bites.

The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and CDC released a new case definition for Zika that now includes reporting asymptomatic and symptomatic cases of Zika. Prior to this change, states reported only symptomatic nonpregnant cases and pregnant cases regardless of symptoms. This change comes as a result of increased availability for testing in commercial laboratories, according to the Florida Department of Health website.

According to CDC, symptoms associated with the Zika virus last between seven to 10 days. The Florida Department of Health issues a Zika virus update each at 2 p.m. each weekday.

Daniel Chang of the Miami Herald contributed to this report.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 10:55 PM with the headline "First Zika case reported in Manatee County by Florida Department of Health."