Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Feds Award $60M More To Battle Zika Just As Virus Is Found In More Widespread Mosquito
Roll Call: Obama Administration Announces Added $60 Million To Fight Zika
Some $60 million will soon flow to states, cities and territories to fight the Zika virus, White House officials announced Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin awarding nearly $60 million to localities to "support efforts to protect Americans from the Zika virus," including protecting against the birth defect microcephaly, the agency said in a press release Thursday. CDC said new funding will be available to jurisdictions Aug. 1. ... An Office of Management and Budget aide confirmed on background that the additional $60 million comes from the $589 million in total funds the administration reprogrammed in April to fight the virus, in the absence of Congress appropriating $1.9 billion in emergency funds that were requested in February. (Mejdrich, 7/21)
The Washington Post: Zika Is Found In Common Culex Mosquitos, Signaling A Potentially Larger Risk
Brazilian researchers said Thursday they have found Zika in Culex mosquitoes in the northeastern city of Recife in what could prove to be an important discovery. But they cautioned that more study was needed. Until now, Zika was believed to be carried mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is much less numerous, lives in clean water and is more likely to bite during the day. Aedes aegypti thrives in tropical and subtropical climates — it is found in Southern U.S. states such as Florida, but is absent in large parts of the United States. The virus is also carried by the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which lives in more rural environments. (Phillips, 7/21)
Meanwhile, in Florida, officials are investigating a possible second case of locally transmitted Zika, but they're worried their funds are drying up —
The New York Times: Second Possible Zika Infection Is Found in Florida
Florida health officials are investigating a possible second case of the Zika virus that may have been locally transmitted. The announcement of the case, in Broward County, comes two days after the state said it was investigating a possible homegrown case in Miami-Dade County. If the cases are confirmed, they would be the first times a person has been infected with the virus by a mosquito in the continental United States. There are more than 1,300 confirmed Zika cases in the country, but all of them had been contracted through travel abroad — by a mosquito bite or by sexual intercourse with someone who had traveled to a Zika-infected area. (Tavernise, 7/21)
The Associated Press: Zika Investigations Eating Up Funds, Florida Officials Say
Florida mosquito control officials worry they won't be able to keep up their efforts to contain the bugs that carry Zika without federal funding, even as concern mounts that the first infection from a mosquito bite on the U.S. mainland is near. On Thursday, fogging trucks drove through a Miami-Dade County neighborhood where health officials are investigating a Zika diagnosis that doesn't appear to have connection to travel outside the United States. Zika is usually spread by mosquitoes, but nearly all the Zika cases in the U.S. have been contracted in other countries or through sex with someone who got it abroad. (7/22)
And in other Zika news —
Reuters: Doctors Devise Care Plan For Babies As Zika Threat Looms In U.S.
As U.S. public health officials try to determine whether Zika has arrived in the country, doctors are establishing guidelines on how to care for the rising number of babies whose mothers were infected with the virus during pregnancy. ... So far, 400 pregnant women in the continental United States have evidence of Zika infection, up from 346 from a week ago, the CDC reported on Thursday. All of those were related to travel or sex with an infected person who had traveled. (Berkrot, 7/21)
Kaiser Health News: How A Caribbean Island Became Prime Source Of U.S. Zika Cases
More than 1,400 Americans contracted Zika while traveling outside the U.S. this year and a Caribbean-island nation is one of the top destinations where they caught the virus. Visitors to the Dominican Republic account for more than a fifth of the confirmed Zika cases in the U.S. through mid-July, according to data from state health departments. New York, Florida and California alone tally 304 cases linked to the country, the data show. (Galewitz, 7/22)
Orlando Sentinel: OneBlood To Start Testing Donated Blood For Zika Virus
Starting August 1, OneBlood will start testing some of the donated blood for the Zika virus. The company is using an investigational Zika test to screen blood products, which hospitals may need for high-risk patients such as pregnant women. This is in addition to individual screenings that the agency has been conducting since February this year, "so it's adding another level of safety," said Dr. Rita Reik, chief medical officer of OneBlood. (Miller, 7/21)
