US Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell declared “a public health emergency of national significance exists within the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico relating to pregnant women and children born to pregnant women with Zika”.
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Zika is known to cause microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects in newborns and has been associated with other adverse pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, stillbirth and serious neurological problems.
While the mounting tally of Zika infections by mosquito bite in Miami is drawing attention on the USA mainland, Puerto Rico has been steeped in local transmission for months. The action gives the government access to additional funding to fight Zika as congressional efforts to allocate money remain stalled.
Request the temporary reassignment of local public health department or agency personnel who are funded through Public Health Service Act programs in Puerto Rico to assist in the Zika response.
While most people who contract Zika suffer no symptoms, the virus is considered to be particularly risky for pregnant women because it can cause birth defects including microcephaly – a condition in which infants are born with small heads.
A week after the Ministry of Health confirmed the first locally transmitted case of the virus, and verified that there were two imported cases, heath officials now say that the country has seven cases.
Zika was first detected previous year in Brazil, where it has taken its heaviest toll so far, and has spread rapidly through the Americas.
Earlier this summer, the Centers for Disease Control urged Puerto Rico to begin spraying for mosquitos from the air.
In the continental United States, Florida is the first state to report local transmission.
Antigua & Barbuda has recorded an increase in Zika virus cases, whose effect on the human body has been feared to be worse than originally thought by world health officials. Meanwhile, the number of Zika cases in Florida continued to climb Friday.
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A bill providing US$1.1 billion was blocked by Democrats after Republicans attached language to stop abortion-provider Planned Parenthood from using that government funding for healthcare services, mainly in USA territories like Puerto Rico. We will also continue assisting communities on the island in order to eliminate potential breeding sites and using land methods to attack adult mosquitoes. Congress left for its summer break without reaching a new agreement, prompting some lawmakers to call for a special session to be held given the threat of Zika.
