"Give us the money so we can work with American women and children and families to monitor the effects of Zika, so we can do a better job at killing mosquitoes to protect American women, and so we can develop better tools to diagnose Zika, to control mosquitoes and ultimately, with NIH in the lead, to find a vaccine to protect women," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Zika is a virus spread by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can cause fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red or pink eyes). The majority of those infected with the Zika virus do not even get sick. But, Zika virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus during pregnancy or around the time of birth, which may cause a serious birth defect of the brain called microcephaly .
The American Gulf coast is predicted to be ground zero for the virus this summer. Cities such as Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Biloxi, Tampa and Miami are beginning to experience a rainy season with increasing heat (exacerbated by climate change) creating favorable environments for the Aedes aegypti mosquito to replicate rapidly.
President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion four months ago to research this horrible virus and prevent localized outbreaks. The request is what the CDC said they needed to hopefully nip this virus in the bud before this national emergency explodes out of control. But guess what? The GOP Congress pushed through only $622 million to combat the virus. The Senate? Not much better.
News.Lee.Net reports:
The 241-184 House vote broke mostly along party lines as Democrats lined up in opposition, heeding a White House veto threat and a warning from a top government health official that the bill wouldn't do enough to respond to the growing threat from Zika.
"It's just not enough," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said of the House measure. "It doesn't give Americans the protections they deserve, and with every day of delay it gets harder to do this." He added that he's "optimistic that at the end of the day they're going to do the right thing on Zika."
Overall, President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion three months ago for the fight against Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes and sexual contact and can cause severe birth defects. The Senate is moving ahead this week with a $1.1 billion plan and agreed with Obama that the money should be added to the budget deficit rather than be "offset" with cuts to other programs.
Democrats and the White House have been hammering at Republicans for dragging their feet on Zika, but the political tempest in Washington hasn't been matched by fear among the public, at least according to recent polling. But GOP leaders see a political imperative to act as the summer mosquito season heats up.
Lab Manager reports on a new study, “Zika Virus Directly Infects Brain Cells and Evades Immune System Detection”:
DALLAS — The mosquito-borne Zika virus linked to microcephaly and other neurological problems in newborns of affected mothers directly infects the brain progenitor cells destined to become neurons, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in a study published online June 3 in Cell Reports.
The team of researchers used a strain of Zika currently impacting the Americas, and found that the virus infects about 20 percent of cells on average, evades immune system detection, and continues to replicate for weeks.
“The cellular system we studied mirrors what pathologists are finding in the brain tissue of affected infants and will be valuable for further understanding how Zika causes severe brain-related problems. The system may also serve as a platform for testing new therapies targeting the virus,” said Dr. John Schoggins, assistant professor of microbiology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study.
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The CDC’s website lists a series of unanswered questions about the virus that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of international concern. The unanswered questions include when during pregnancy the infection may harm the fetus and how the virus affects individual pregnancies.
"I know that there are people of good will in both houses of Congress, in both parties, who understand it's an emergency, who want to make it happen, Congress did the right thing with Ebola, and I'm hopeful they'll do the right thing in Zika. The sooner they do it, the better it's going to be." Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention