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Zika virus-spreading mosquitoes have yet to invade the U.S., but federal health officials in Washington are taking no chances.
Officials with the D.C. Department of Health doled out free kits Saturday aimed at preventing the spread of the tropical disease.
The nearly 500 cases reported in the U.S. so far have all been people who contracted the virus overseas or had sex with people who did.
The kits include insect repellent, condoms and mosquito dunks — devices that kill mosquito eggs in standing water.
Zika has been linked to a range of birth defects, including a condition that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and severe brain damage.
The World Health Organization declared Zika a global emergency in February as the virus was spreading rapidly through the Americas.
On Friday, Puerto Rico confirmed its first case of microcephaly, the brain damage-causing defect spawned by Zika.
With News Wire Services