Public Health Perspectives: Zika Gives Congress A Wake-Up Call

The Washington Post: How Foreclosed Homes And Used Tires Can Threaten Public Health In The Age Of Zika
With the Zika virus looming just a couple of years after Ebola spread across West Africa, what’s long been obvious to experts should now be clear to the rest of us: We live in an era of emerging pathogens. Between 1940 and 2004, more than 300 infectious diseases either emerged or spread into new places and populations. On Friday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott called a news conference to alert the public to four cases of Zika in South Florida transmitted locally by mosquitoes. Though we imagine infectious microbes propagating according to their own logic, many are resurging thanks to the unintended consequences of human activity that would seem to have little to do with the biology of microbes, from economics and housing policy to architecture. (Sonia Shah, 7/29)

The New York Times: Local Zika Cases In Florida Should Wake Up Congress
The Zika-carrying mosquitoes are here. Public health officials said on Friday that four people in the Miami area have become infected with the Zika virus. This is likely to be the first local transmission of the virus by mosquitoes in the continental United States. Perhaps this news will shock Congress and state and local governments into taking more forceful steps to fight this disease. The Zika virus can cause babies to be born with small heads, a condition known as microcephaly; it has also been linked to neurological disorders in adults. Before the Florida cases, the virus had been found only in people who had traveled to Puerto Rico or Latin American countries that had an active epidemic, or who had sex with a partner who had been in those regions. (7/29)

Miami Herald: Congress Must Act — Zika Has Arrived
Bad news — they’re here. The Zika-carrying mosquitoes — despite all the spraying — have arrived in Miami-Dade County, responsible for at least four local victims contracting the disease. They are the first to be infected by mosquitoes in the continental United States. What do we do now? (7/31)

The Hill: It’s Time For Lawmakers And The Country To Take Zika Seriously
We can set out to track confirmed cases of infection, use sophisticated models to predict the spread of a virus, and even have some degree of advance warning. However, it happens too often that the threat is underestimated. Each time that happens, rather than learning from it and changing things the next time around, patients ultimately end up paying the price of potentially preventable illnesses. Unfortunately, that is exactly the situation in which we find ourselves with the new threat of Zika. (Neil Silverman, 7/31)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Act Now To Prevent HIV Outbreaks
A Wall Street Journal map based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is telling. Large swaths of Kentucky – 54 of 120 counties – are red. Southern Indiana also is scarred by several red counties. The red on the map identifies the counties that the CDC says are at high risk of outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis C among injection drug users. The CDC identified at-risk counties by analyzing data such as unemployment rates, overdose deaths and sales of prescription painkillers. (7/29)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Increasing Awareness Of HIV Prevention Drug
It’s been called a game changer, this little blue pill that when taken daily can decrease the risk of contracting HIV by as much as 92 percent. But why aren’t more people in Louisville aware of it? Groups around Kentuckiana are answering just that as they strive to bring PrEP to the forefront of HIV prevention efforts while trying to save lives in the process. (Amanda Beam, 7/31)

Chicago Tribune: Prediabetes: The Epidemic That Never Was, And Shouldn't Be
This summer, your TV will begin alerting you to the dangers of high blood sugar. Your phone will buzz with automatic messages assessing the glycemic index of your breakfast bagel. And your Facebook feed will remind you to take the stairs, not the elevator. This is all the result of a recent initiative intended to increase awareness of a condition known as prediabetes. (Isabel Beshar and Hank Cambell, 7/29)

Chicago Tribune: Remember The Ice Bucket Challenge? ALS Researchers Do — With Gratitude
They don't call summer the silly season for nothing. This often carefree time of year is prone to odd crazes that somehow don't seem to pop up in the depths of winter. Right now it's Pokemon Go. A few summers ago, it was Carly Rae Jepsen's pop hit, "Call Me Maybe," which inspired lip-synched videos by everyone from the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders to the Harvard baseball team. (7/29)