Anya Parampil

Well, Anya, mosquitoes live and thrive in hot and humid temperatures, taking into account that a mosquito bite is how someone can get infected with Zika.

Any state that's currently experiencing cold winter temperatures, well, that state is not in danger of the virus spreading currently.

but there are no mosquitoes flying around there.

But once the weather changes, some experts believe the Zika virus could become a problem in many states.

An emerging disease specialist from Rutgers University says New Jersey may get hit with Zika in July.

That's typically the time when female mosquitoes reach their reproductive cycle and require a blood meal, which for us humans mean they want to bite us.

Now, as we've been reporting, it's not every mosquito that's dangerous.

It's the Aedes aegypti mosquito and the Aedes albopictus, which is better known as the tiger mosquito.

They are the primary vectors for Zika.

Unfortunately, those species live in dozens of U.S.

states.

So far, we actually have compiled a bunch of maps here, as you could see, indicating where the species has been found in the United States.

We need to stress there's been no confirmed case of local Zika transmission so far, but the fear is that the species of mosquitoes that I've mentioned, if they bite a traveler who returns to the United States with a Zika infection, a full-blown Zika virus outbreak could occur in the United States.

It absolutely does.

As a matter of fact, the operations manager of Miami's Mosquito Control told me that the Aedes aegypti is the most prevalent mosquito in Miami.

When two residents, as you mentioned, Anya, in Miami returned home from South America last month with Zika infections, Mosquito Control was instructed to go to the homes of the infected people

spray the surrounding area, inspect their property for breeding grounds, and take every measure to prevent a mosquito from coming in contact and biting the people who came back to Miami with the virus.

Because if the mosquito bites them, it could ignite a case of local transmission.

But whether we're talking about Florida, New Jersey, Texas, New York, Washington, D.C., or any other state facing the possibility of a Zika infection, once the weather does get warmer, the mosquito control manager I spoke with told me that it will be everyone's responsibility to prevent a potential outbreak.

Now, of course, Anya, the panic surrounding the Zika virus, it's linked to microcephaly, as you mentioned.