New Mexico launches Zika awareness campaign

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Department of Health is launching a campaign to educate people about Zika. The focus will be providing information to pregnant women and their partners who may be traveling to areas where the mosquito-borne virus is prevalent. State officials said Friday that the campaign will include television and radio spots as well as billboards and movie theater advertising. The virus is currently transmitted in vacation spots that are popular among New Mexicans, including Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Islands, most of Mexico, Central and South America and parts of Asia and Africa. There have been no reported cases of Zika in New Mexico so far this year. In 2016, there were 10 cases, all of which involved people who were infected abroad and diagnosed after returning home.