Harris County Public Health confirmed the first Zika-related death in the state of Texas in a newborn female August 9.
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In a statement, Scott said the newest cases are all from a small area of the Wynwood neighborhood, less than 1 square mile.
There have been 99 reported cases of the Zika virus in Texas, all of which were contracted related to travel, according to state public health officials.
Clinton also used her time in south Florida to show her support for former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, with a visit to the congresswoman’s campaign office.
The Health Department still thinks all the cases are from transmissions in the Wynwood section of Miami-Dade County.
At a local health clinic, the Democratic presidential nominee said Republican congressional leaders should summon lawmakers back to Washington and immediately pass funding for the Zika response.
“I disagree with those who say that Zika is an insignificant issue”, she said.
House Republicans did vote to approve a Zika funding bill in May, but the White House vowed to veto it and Democrats opposed the measure because it pulled about half of the $622 million in the bill from efforts to fight Ebola, an epidemic that ravaged Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014. “The mother and baby are classified as travel-related cases, and there is no additional associated risk in Texas”, it said.
More than 7,300 Americans have been diagnosed with Zika, including 1,825 in the continental US and 5,548 in USA territories, according to the CDC.
The infant tested positive for Zika after being born with birth defects including microcephaly.
Zika can also be transmitted sexually and is linked to birth defects. He added that the department’s top mission is to do everything it can to protect unborn babies from the devastating effects of the virus. It is the second Zika-related death in the continental United States after an elderly man in Utah died in June. The mother traveled to Latin America while pregnant where officials believe she was infected.
The focus on Zika comes in the midst of an economic debate between the two candidates following Trump’s announcement of a retooled tax proposal including substantial tax cuts. The health center is inside the “Zika zone”, an area of Miami where people have been infected by local mosquitoes. “And if they need to travel for some reason, they should really speak to their healthcare provider first about the risks, and if the health provider says ‘yes go ahead and go, ‘ then it’s very important that they wear mosquito repellant and avoid any contact with any mosquitos in those areas”.
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The Texas baby’s death is a reminder that American women and their babies, who tend to be healthier and better nourished than those in Brazil, aren’t immune to the damage caused by Zika, said Lawrence Gostin, faculty director at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.
