Funding can also be used to purchase preparedness resources like repellent, screens, and supplies for Zika Prevention Kits.
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Among U.S. territories – American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – 34 more pregnant women were reported, bringing the territorial number up to 250 and giving the country a total of 537 cases, the CDC said. Zika is spread primarily through mosquito bite but can also be sexually transmitted from male to female or passed from mother to fetus during pregnancy.
Mahoning and Trumbull counties are part of a mosquito study amid Zika concerns. Obama criticized them for “playing politics” with public health. There is no vaccine or medicine for zika virus.
The Zika virus is believed not to be spread by ordinary touches between humans, but it can be transmitted through sex and blood transfusion.Cases of sexual transmission from travelers to their sexual partners had been reported from the US and Europe. But the majority of people with Zika won’t even know they have it because most don’t experience any symptoms.
Obama said the United States is “fairly confident” that an effective vaccine for Zika can be developed in “fairly short order” with the proposed funding.
He had recently traveled to the Caribbean, one of the areas known to have mosquitos infected with the Zika virus. The U.S. could reduce the risk of the virus, which has been linked to birth defects such as microcephaly in newborns, if Congress approves funding, Obama said.
It is recommended that pregnant women or women trying to become pregnant not travel to areas where the Zika Virus is prevalent.
That brings the US totals, as of June 23, to seven babies with microcephaly or other Zika-related birth defects such as serious brain abnormalities, and five lost pregnancies from either miscarriage, stillbirth or termination.
Obama requested $1.9 billion to fight the virus in February.
The new cases involved two patients in Pasco County, two in Polk County, one in Charlotte County, one in Citrus County, one in Miami-Dade County, one in Orange County and two involving pregnant women, according to the Florida Department of Health.
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Dr. Julie VanSchalkwyk, head of obstetrics and gynecology at B.C. Women’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, said ultrasound findings alone isn’t enough to rule in or rule out Zika virus infection, CBC News reported.
