The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: zika virus
As Zika Spreads, Republicans Hold Funding Hostage

As Zika Spreads, Republicans Hold Funding Hostage

More than three months have passed since President Obama first asked Congress for $1.8 billion to fund the fight against the Zika virus, and the full amount is still nowhere in sight.

The mosquito-borne virus, which can also be transmitted between humans, has become a growing concern in recent weeks. The CDC announced Friday that the number of pregnant women with the virus has tripled, and that number is only expected to swell as the summer months bring more mosquitoes to the United States and its territories. People with Zika do not always show symptoms, further complicating the ability to monitor the spread of the virus.

Despite the alarming developments, Republicans have balked at the request by the President, offering a fraction of his requested amount. The House on Wednesday passed the Republican-backed Zika Response Appropriations Act, a bill that would provide $622.1 million in funding towards Zika but would also lead to other cuts — including on funds allocated for the fight against Ebola — in order to satisfy Republican demands to limit deficit spending.

Democrats have called out Republicans for failing to allocate the necessary funding, which would be used for training efforts, testing, and mosquito control. The Senate on Tuesday voted to push forward $1.1 billion in emergency funding — still less than the amount requested by the President. No Democrats opposed it.

Some Republicans, particularly those representing the Southeastern United States where the Virus is expected to be the most prevalent, have called on Congress to provide as much funding as the President has requested.

“There is no reason why we should not fully fund this,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said earlier this week. Rubio went on to slam the House bill, saying “Quite frankly, that’s just not going to cut it.”

Obama warned Congress on Friday not to go on recess without first addressing the funding he has requested, noting that it is not yet time to panic but that the issue should be taken seriously. The president met with his top public safety officers and said there is still more research needed to find answers on the virus — research that can only happen once the necessary funding is allocated by Congress.

The long wait for funding has had a ripple effect on the local level, at least for the time being. The CDC was forced to move $44 million from state and local governments — including $1.1 million in New York City — to fight the Zika virus. Local governments will be limited in their ability to respond to other public health emergencies until adequate funding is made available.

Photo: A woman walks past a giant fake mosquito placed on top of a bus shelter as part of an awareness campaign about the Zika virus in Chicago, Illinois, United States, May 16, 2016.     REUTERS/Jim Young 

First U.S. Zika Virus Transmission Reported, Attributed To Sex

First U.S. Zika Virus Transmission Reported, Attributed To Sex

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, a day after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency.

The virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in the Americas, and WHO officials on Tuesday expressed concern that it could hit Africa and Asia as well. Zika had been thought to be spread by the bite of mosquitoes of the Aedes genus, so sexual contact as a mode of transmission would be a potentially alarming development.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it was the first U.S. Zika case in someone who had not traveled abroad in the current outbreak, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden on Twitter.

However, the CDC has not investigated how the virus was transmitted.

After this case, the CDC advised men to consider using condoms after traveling to areas with the Zika virus. Pregnant women should avoid contact with semen from men exposed to the virus.

The Dallas County Department of health said on Twitter that the person was infected through sexual contact with someone who had traveled to Venezuela. The person infected did not travel to the South American country, county health officials said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services was slightly more cautious in its assessment, saying in a statement, “Case details are being evaluated, but the possibility of sexual transmission from an infected person to a non-infected person is likely in this case.”

County authorities said there were no reports of the virus being transmitted by mosquitoes in the Texas county.

Previously, international health officials had noted one U.S. case of possible person-to-person sexual transmission. But the Pan American Health Organization said more evidence was needed to confirm sexual contact as a means of Zika transmission. The medical literature also has one case in which the virus was detected in semen.

The virus has been reported in more than 30 countries and linked to microcephaly, in which babies have abnormally small heads and improperly developed brains.

The American Red Cross on Tuesday asked blood donors who have traveled to Zika virus outbreak areas such as Mexico, the Caribbean, or Central or South America to wait at least 28 days before donating. However, the risk of transmitting the virus through blood donations remained “extremely” low in the continental United States, the disaster relief agency said.

The Dow Jones transportation average ended 2.9 percent lower following news of the first U.S. transmission of the Zika virus.

MONITORING NEEDED

The WHO has said the virus could infect 4 million people in the Americas. It said on Tuesday it launched a global response unit to fight the mosquito-borne virus.

“Most important, we need to set up surveillance sites in low- and middle-income countries so that we can detect any change in the reporting patterns of microcephaly at an early stage,” Dr. Anthony Costello said in Geneva. Costello is WHO’s director for maternal, child and adolescent health.

Twenty to 30 sites could be established worldwide, mainly in poor countries without robust healthcare systems, Costello said.

Brazil is the country hardest hit by Zika. In an address to a joint session of Brazil’s Congress, President Dilma Rousseff said her government will spare no resources in mobilizing to combat the mosquito that transmits the virus. With no vaccine or treatment for Zika, efforts to curb its spread have focused on eradicating mosquito breeding sites.

Brazil, which has more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly that may be linked to Zika, is scheduled to host the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Rousseff also said Brazil and the United States will enter a partnership to develop a Zika vaccine as soon as possible to stem the spread of the virus.

VACCINE EFFORTS

French drugmaker Sanofi SA on Tuesday announced that it has launched a project to develop a vaccine against the virus, the most decisive commitment yet by a major vaccine maker. The company said its Sanofi Pasteur vaccines division would use its expertise in developing vaccines for similar viruses such as yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and dengue.

Other companies also joined the race on Tuesday to develop a vaccine. The University of South Australia said it was working on a Zika vaccine with Australian biotech Sementis Ltd.

U.S. drug developer NewLink Genetics Corp said it has started a project to develop Zika treatment options.

Experts have said a Zika vaccine for widespread use is months if not years away.

Costello said the Aedes mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus “are present… through Africa, parts of southern Europe and many parts of Asia, particularly South Asia.” Africa and Asia have the world’s highest birth rates.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said on Monday it was “strongly suspected but not yet scientifically proven” that Zika causes microcephaly.

The first Irish cases of Zika virus have been detected in two people with a history of traveling to a country affected by the mosquito-borne infection, the Health Service Executive of Ireland said.

Chilean health officials said they have confirmed three cases in Chile of people infected with the Zika virus, all of whom were infected while traveling elsewhere in Latin America.

An Australian state health service said two Australians were diagnosed with the virus after returning from the Caribbean, confirming the first cases of the virus in the country this year.

(Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon in Paris, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Shadia Nasralla in Vienna, Ben Hirschler in London, Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Jane Wardell in Sydney, Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok, Pedro Fonseca in Rio, Rosalba O’Brien in Santiago, Padraic Halpin in Dublin, Ankur Banerjee and Amrutha Penumudi in Bengaluru; Writing by Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Jonathan Oatis, Andrew Hay and Bernard Orr)

Photo: An employee examines a tube with the label ‘Zika virus’ at Genekam Biotechnology AG in Duisburg, Germany, February 2, 2016. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender