White House Redirects $589M In Funds To Fight Zika Virus (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The White House said on Wednesday it will redirect $589 million in funds to prepare for the Zika virus before the mosquito that carries it begins to emerge in the continental United States, but urged Congress to act quickly on its request for more money. Most of the $589 million will come from $2.7 billion in funds set aside for public health projects aimed at the Ebola virus. White House budget director Shaun Donovan said the use of money previously provided for fighting another health crisis, the Ebola virus, was only a temporary fix for Zika funding. Donovan said some measures to fight Zika would have to be delayed, curtailed or stopped unless the U.S. Congress approves more than $1.8 billion in emergency funds requested by the Obama administration in February. The Zika virus, linked to a growing number of cases of the birth defect microcephaly in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in Latin America and the Caribbean and heading north as the weather gets warmer.

Comments

Err on the side of caution

[rmdingler]

I think it's a good idea to get ahead of this outbreak instead of waiting until the tipping point was near for widespread transmission.

Take not just the money from Ebola, take the lesson: don't let something this virulent get away from us.

As of March 30, 2016 (5 am EST) Zika virus disease and Zika virus congenital infection are nationally notifiable conditions. This update from the CDC Arboviral Disease Branch includes provisional data reported to ArboNET for January 1, 2015 – March 30, 2016. US States Travel-associated Zika virus disease cases reported: 312 Locally acquired vector-borne cases reported: 0 Of the 312 cases reported, 27 were pregnant women, 6 were sexually transmitted, and 1 had Guillain-Barré syndrome US Territories Travel-associated cases reported: 3 Locally acquired cases reported: 349 Of the 352 cases reported, 37 were pregnant women and 1 had Guillain-Barré syndrome

Re:Err on the side of caution

[waTeim]

Adding; the species A. aegypti is the mosquito that carries Zika and is present in the United State mainland along the Gulf Coast and also in AZ. There is a ~3 day window after a mosquito bites someone who is infected before someone else can be infected but after that it's for the lifetime of the mosquite (total 15 days). No natively transmitted Zika has been reported in the continental US, but it is expected that 20% of the population of Puerto Rico will be infected by Zika by the end of the year.