With 1,657 cases of Zika confirmed in the USA and the first local spread of the virus in Florida, it’s time for President Obama to use all of the nearly $600 million in unspent Ebola funding Congress provided almost two years ago. She said they “are working closely with Puerto Rican officials to pursue solutions to fight the virus in Puerto Rico with a focus on protecting pregnant women and continuing our efforts with jurisdictions throughout the United States to address this public health threat”.
Advertisement
“While we know that mosquito bites infect women with Zika, we are now anxious that sex is another way that a woman can catch Zika or that a baby can be infected with Zika directly”.
According to experts interviewed for the report, Brazil has an “even lower” chance of beating the species of mosquito that carries the Zika virus today.
“Pregnant women who catch Zika virus are at risk of infecting their babies with Zika and for some women this will cause Congenital Zika Syndrome, where the baby has abnormalities of the eyes, hearing defects and brain abnormalities along with an increased risk of miscarriage and intra-uterine death or stillbirth”, said Minto-Bain. That has now increased to 25 cases, according to Florida health officials.
The public health emergency declaration is a tool for the federal government to provide fresh support to Puerto Rico’s government to tackle the outbreak and grants access to certain federal funds. On Thursday, the Obama administration announced it would be diverting $81 million from research and healthcare programs to find a Zika vaccine after a deadlocked Congress refused to approve new funding.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico Friday in response to the Zika outbreak.
Earlier this month, the first cases of locally acquired Zika infection in Florida were confirmed in the Miami-area Wynwood neighborhood.
The health department said the third infection is outside that zone in Miami-Dade County.
Advertisement
You have left for this month.
