The health impacts of the Zika virus are reported to be greatest on developing fetuses.
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At least 1,035 pregnant women have been infected by the Zika virus, causing concern from officials due to the virus’ connection to birth defects including microcephaly. 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. Obviously, public health officials in the state are devising various means by which the message on sexual transmission of the virus which is rapidly becoming a threat to human life can be effectively communicated.
In mainland United States, Florida is now in the throes of the first local outbreak.
“This Administration is committed to meeting the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico with the necessary urgency”, Secretary Burwell said.
The last time HHS declared such an emergency was in 2012 in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which slammed into the New Jersey shore and flooded parts of New York City.
“As a outcome of the outbreak of Zika virus and its potential effect on pregnant women and children born to pregnant women with Zika”, Secretary Burwell wrote, “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”.
According to a new report from the Los Angeles Times, Brazil has successfully defeated the Zika virus before.
Puerto Rico can also ask for the reassignment on an interim basis of local public health personnel who are funded under Public Health Service Act initiatives in order to provide assistance to Zika virus response efforts on the island. The administration said on Thursday it had shifted $US81 million ($105 million) in funds from other projects to continue work on developing vaccines to fight Zika in the absence of any funding from USA lawmakers.
As a precaution, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that men who have traveled to areas at risk for Zika – including an area in Miami’s Wynwood – abstain from unprotected sex.
“The threat of Zika to future generations of Puerto Ricans is evident, and I feel a responsibility to do everything that is within my reach to make sure we fight the spread of the virus”, Garcia Padilla said in a statement. Over 1,800 newborns have been affected with devastating birth defects while tens of thousands of people across the Americas and the Caribbean have been infected with the virus.
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