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Obama administration to shift $81 million to fight Zika

Last week, Scott said that all county health departments in the state would provide Zika testing to pregnant women for free. Its arrival in the continental United States had been widely anticipated.

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Florida’s caseload of Zika spread by Miami mosquitoes has risen to 25, and US health officials continue to warn pregnant women to avoid the infection zone despite the governor’s assurances that the area of concern is shrinking. Florida has reported homegrown Zika transmission by mosquitoes.

The federal government is now moving around $81 million that will go toward funding research for a Zika virus vaccine, but a research expert told Action News Jax it isn’t almost enough money for what’s needed to fight the virus.

The U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services on Friday declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico because of the widespread transmission of the Zika virus, which poses a “significant threat” to public health. That insect is more prevalent in Florida than here, Drenzek said, adding, “The risk is certainly different here than in Florida”.

Officials are urging people to protect themselves from mosquito bites.

Zika is similar to mosquito-borne illnesses such as dengue fever and chikungunya in that there is neither a vaccine nor antiviral medications to prevent infection.

“If they don’t, vaccine development will be stopped dead in its tracks”, DeLauro said. Zika is a known cause of microcephaly and other fetal brain defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Florida cases have led to an increase in calls from ob/gyns in Georgia and others interested in getting more information, she said. “People panic and there’s potential for irrational thinking in either direction, not doing enough and doing too much”.

Governor Scott said he authorized more than $26 million in state funds to fight Zika and as of Thursday, more than $18 million has been allocated to local and state entities for mosquito prevention and control.

“It’s not the whole city – it’s a very small part of the city”, Dr. Petersen said of the possible risk in Miami.

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The Obama administration will transfer more than $30 million from medical institutes within the National Institutes of Health to pay for the second stage of a Zika vaccine, officials announced Thursday.

House Dems: Obama to Reprogram Money for Zika Funds