151 a national health advocacy group has accused fort lauderdale officials of taking down its billboards promoting condom use to prevent sexual transmission of the zika virus the local chapter of the aids healthcare foundation which is based in los angeles alleged that officials from the fort lauderdale mayors office and the greater fort lauderdale convention and visitors bureau gflcvb removed its billboards there featuring an illustration of an unfurled condom with the words prevents zika transmission and directing viewers to the website useacondomcom the billboards were allegedly taken down this week in locations around fort lauderdale and near the fort lauderdalehollywood international airport following several complaints received from officials in the mayors office the gflcvb and their advertising agency starmark the foundation said in a news release wednesday it is outrageous that the mayors office or the convention and visitors bureau would remove these billboards which had a public health message that was relevant to both our community and those visiting the area michael kahane head of the aids healthcare foundations southern bureau in fort lauderdale said in a statement our officials have acted inappropriately and are jeopardizing the publics health because of their actions fort lauderdale mayor jack seiler denied the accusations in a statement to abc news thursday saying he has not communicated with the aids healthcare foundation about its billboard promoting condom use to prevent sexual transmission of the zika virus further i have not communicated with any billboard company about the aids healthcare foundations billboard promoting condom use to prevent sexual transmission of the zika virus seiler continued i suspect that this false accusation and alleged controversy may be part of their marketing campaign in a statement obtained by abc news later thursday fort lauderdales tourism bureau said it had been contacted with concerns about the billboards imagery and messaging as it is not 100 percent accurate in advising the public of how to protect themselves from zika transmission the health and welfare of the visitors and residents of broward county is our highest priority stacy ritter president and ceo of the greater fort lauderdale convention and visitors bureau said in the statement we reached out to the billboard company to relay these concerns that had been brought to our attention ritter said the billboard company then conveyed these concerns to the aids healthcare foundation ahf there were a number of options including changing the copy relocating the billboard and working with the ahf before taking the billboard down ultimately it was the billboard companys decision to take a course of action to remove the billboard ritter said florida zika outbreak why more cases dont mean the outbreak is growing fighting zika in the us the battle over gmo mosquitoes the florida department of health said wednesday there are three new nonrelated cases of zika in the sunshine state bringing the total number of locallyacquired cases to 33 one of the new cases is in miamidade county where health officials believe active transmission is