Unlike the Ebola virus, which is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids and is highly contagious, Zika is passed along when a mosquito bites an infected person, feeds, and carries the infected blood to another person.
Advertisement
Mosquito transmission is the primary cause of the virus’ spread.
The figures were listed in a US Zika pregnancy registry created earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “And we have not seen the House and the Senate come together in a sensible way to put forward the dollars that we have requested that have been budgeted to get the job done”, Obama told reporters on Friday.
Sarah Kohn performs an ultrasound on a pregnant rhesus macaque monkey infected with the Zika virus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US.
About $25 million will be granted to states and cities to help with the effort.
President Barack Obama said Friday lawmakers are “playing politics” with public health and needs to act quickly to pass a bill that could result in a Zika vaccine. The Florida Department of Health says that all cases reported in Florida have been travel-related. Jurisdictions can use the funds to rapidly identify and investigate a possible outbreak of Zika virus in their communities; coordinate a comprehensive response across all levels of government and non-governmental partners (including the healthcare sector); and identify and connect families affected by Zika to community services.
“These CDC funds will enable states and territories to strengthen their Zika preparedness and response plans”, said Stephen C. Redd, M.D.
A news release from the ministry today said that health practitioners in the public and private sector have been informed of the strategies and that they are working closely with them.
There have not yet been any cases reported of local transmission of the virus in the United States, but health experts expect local transmission to occur with the onset of mosquito season, especially in Gulf Coast states such as Florida and Texas.
Advertisement
In addition to the Zika-specific funding, Arkansas was also awarded $6.2 million in a cooperative agreement to improve and sustain emergency preparedness of state and local public health systems. The chief chief concern is that Zika virus appears to cause a significant birth defect called microcephaly, causing a baby to be born with a smaller-than-normal head.
