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CDC director: Funding delay hurts fight against Zika

The Massachusetts resident had traveled to Puerto Rico, where more than 1,000 infections have been identified.

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Two more patients infected with the Zika virus have been reported in Missouri, the state Department of Health and Senior Services said Thursday.

CHICAGO The World Health Organization is advising women living in areas where the Zika virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant, advice already given by several countries where the virus is in widespread transmission.

Women in those areas are recommended to take steps to avoid mosquito bites and to use condoms to protect against sexual transmission. Ron Klain, who headed the White House’s response to Ebola, recently met with Coons about the issue and said in an interview that it’s unclear how many people could be infected with Zika in the U.S. “We don’t know how big or how widespread it will be”. Symptoms of Zika can include fever, rash, joint pain, headache and pink eye. Although men can transmit the virus through sex, it’s not known if women can transmit the virus through sex.

Millions of couples in 46 countries where the Zika virus may pose a risk have been warned to avoid getting pregnant, according to an updated report from the World Health Organization. The university learned that the blood test was positive for Zika virus June 8.

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The virus is thought to cause birth defects like microcephaly, which prevents the growth of a baby’s head and sometimes its brain. The move was however deemed controversial by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). Bill Nelson filed legislation Thursday aimed at steering an additional $130 million annually to local mosquito control boards to eliminate the the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the virus. Zika is also linked to an increase in Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a disorder in which the body’s own immune cells attack the nervous system.

A baby affected by the Zika Virus in Bonito Pernambuco state Brazil is comforted by his elder brother