President Barack Obama has urged the Congress to pass the Zika funding bill after reports revealed that 279 pregnant women in the United States have been infected by the virus. Signs of infection include rash, sore joints, fever and red-eyes (aka conjunctivities). According to Dr. Margaret Honein of CDC’s birth defects branch, the 157 cases are still ongoing pregnancies so the United States health authorities are not yet sure how many more babies will end up suffering. It can be found in the southern United States, but there’s no evidence that they’ve been spreading the virus in the USA yet. Health Secretary Ana Rius told reporters in San Juan that the fetus had been turned over to US health officials for testing.
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“At the end of the day we are not Florida, we are not Texas, where they have mosquito control in every jurisdiction”.
The virus has infected almost 84,000 people since officials began monitoring the outbreak in October.
Concern surrounding the Zika virus has even prompted some countries and athletes to consider skipping the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, where the virus and potential birth defects were first spotlighted. This means that the public health body is expanding its medical reporting to cover suspected patients who didn’t have the Zika-related symptoms.
The number of pregnant women in the state with the Zika virus has increased fourfold – from 9 to 36 cases – after the Department of Health said Friday it was following new federal guidelines that changed how the women were being counted.
Paskewitz is working with local health officials to trap mosquitos to see if any carry the Zika virus.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti said protection from the virus could only be done if the African countries raise awareness of the virus among pregnant women. “So, we are thinking about it, doing some preparation here but we’re not overly concerned”, she said.
The largest number of cases by far are in Puerto Rico, where officials are keeping tabs on 122 pregnant women. He says once travelers return home they can spread the disease, and at the meeting they will address how to avoid spreading the virus. The turnaround time is usually around five days to a week but most times by the time we get the result, the persons are in fact asymptomatic. The agency did not detail the outcomes of the pregnancies. “It needs to get me a bill that has sufficient funds to do the job”, Obama said, as quoted by Fox News. The $1.1 billion in emergency funds that passed the Senate today on a bipartisan basis, with the support of Senators Klobuchar and Franken, would help mitigate the spread of Zika and respond to outbreaks of the virus. The mosquito-borne virus, however, remains in blood and semen much longer.
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Obama repeated his call for the full requested amount.
