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Blood banks in the United States and Canada have begun turning away prospective donors who have visited Latin America in the past four weeks to avoid contaminating the blood supply with the Zika virus, according to officials with the group that represents nearly all of the blood donation centers in the United States. (Kaplan, 2/3)

On the same day Texas health officials announced the first U.S. Zika virus transmission contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, local blood banks asked prospective donors Tuesday who have traveled to affected countries to postpone giving for about a month. The American transmission of the Zika virus involved a Dallas County resident who had sexual contact with someone who acquired the infection while traveling in Venezuela, Texas health officials said. (Abram, 2/2)

The Zika virus is creeping into politics, with Republicans beginning to question whether the Obama administration is doing enough to protect the public from an outbreak. Fears about the virus grew Tuesday when it was announced that the virus has been transmitted sexually in Dallas — the same city where a scare over the Ebola virus began in 2014. (Sullivan, 2/4)

"If you are a woman who is pregnant living in the U.S., there's one really important thing you need to know: You shouldn't go to a place that has Zika spreading." That's the strongly worded advice from Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Frieden's statement is a sign of just how seriously the CDC is taking the Zika outbreak, which has been linked to a surge in birth defects in Brazil. CDC is one of the lead global agencies in the battle against this virus, and officials there say the outbreak is far from over, with major challenges ahead. (Beaubien, 2/3)

Brazil is not sharing enough samples and disease data to let researchers determine whether the Zika virus is, as feared, linked to the increased number of babies born with abnormally small heads in the South American country, U.N. and U.S. health officials say. The lack of data is forcing laboratories in the United States and Europe to work with samples from previous outbreaks, and is frustrating efforts to develop diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines. Scientists tell The Associated Press that having so little to work with is hampering their ability to track the virus' evolution. (2/4)

The surging medical reports of babies being born with unusually small heads during the Zika epidemic in Brazil are igniting a fierce debate over the country’s abortion laws, which make the procedure illegal under most circumstances. Legal scholars in Brasília, the capital, are preparing a case to go before Brazil’s highest court, saying pregnant women should be permitted to have abortions when their fetuses are found to have abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly that Brazilian researchers say is linked to the virus. (Romero, 2/3)

The Florida Department of Health confirmed six new cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus on Tuesday afternoon, bringing the statewide total to nine, including four in Miami-Dade County. All nine cases have been contracted by people who’ve traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean and brought the disease back to Florida. Three cases were contracted in Haiti, three of them in Venezuela, two in Colombia, and one in El Salvador, according to Mara Gambineri, communications director for the Florida Department of Health. Gambineri did not offer additional information regarding the cases. (Lima, 3/3)

The Georgia Department of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed the first travel-related case of Zika virus in the state. Testing of this individual was done by the CDC, according to Public Health officials. (Miller, 2/3)