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CDC Zika summit draws attention to preparedness, need for emergency funds
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Apr 01, 2016 A 1-day summit to help state and local health officials fine-tune their Zika response plans drew more than 300 people to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta and came with strong pleas for Congress to approve emergency funding to support the efforts.
Puerto Rico is already battling an outbreak, and with local spread in Cuba and Mexico, the virus is right on the nation's main doorstep ahead of warmer weather and an uptick in mosquito activity. On the mainland, the disease has sickened 312 travelers, including 27 pregnant women.
President Obama's February 8 emergency funding request of $1.9 billion support the domestic and international response is stalled in Congress, with some Republican members demanding that funds be shifted from already approved Ebola money. Federal health officials for months now have warned that they expect limited illness clusters in some parts of the country.
The CDC said the goal of the Zika Action Plan (ZAP) summit is to arm public health officials with the latest information and help them identify any preparedness gaps. It also released several tools for health departments, including Zika preparedness and response guidance and action plan template forms, which are available on the summit Web site.
Also today the CDC released a Vital Signs report, which outlines the most recent information on the Zika threat, what the federal government is doing, and what pregnant couples, health departments, and health providers can do to help.
Plans to protect pregnant women need funding support
At a media briefing today, CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said the agency was encouraged by the response to the summit. He added in addition to those who attended in person, more than 2,000 took part though a live online video feed.
"The bottom line is that we are all working to protect pregnant women," he said, adding that mosquito control is a tough task, especially given technical challenges, limited funds, and the patchwork nature of control efforts across the nation. "There's an urgent need to learn more and do more."
However, lack of funding will hobble the response, Frieden said. "We need the resources to get Americans the protection they deserve."
Amy Pope, JD, White House deputy homeland security advisor and deputy assistant to the President, said the Obama administration learned valuable lessons in preparedness from the Ebola response. "We can't wait for widespread transmission," she said.
The administration has said it would look at all resources for funding, Pope said. "We can't undermine the fight against Ebola, and even if we take money from other pots, the money we have isn't enough."
Growing worries about birth defect spectrum
Edward McCabe, MD, PhD, chief medical officer for the March of Dimes, said the organization is very concerned that the nation has a narrow window to respond to the Zika threat to pregnant women and that it is closing rapidly. Swift, strong actions might prevent dozens or even hundreds of birth defects, he said, "but we must act now."
He said the range of problems health providers in other countries are reporting, from severe microcephaly to fetal growth restriction to yet known problems with brain development are sobering. "It's very concerning what we're seeing."
"The real challenge is whether our nation is going to do what's necessary to protect pregnant women," McCabe said, adding that the March of Dimes calls on Congress to approve the funding. "We should not have to fight Zika by raiding funds from other priorities."
Nicole Lurie, MD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the HHS is working aggressively with Zika test developers, one of the key countermeasure priorities. "It's like a game of cat and mouse, with developers reluctant to put skin in the game without support," she added.
Meanwhile, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) is surveying members to get a better idea of preparedness response steps they're taking, along with the ones they're not, Edward Ehlinger, MD, MPH, the group's executive director and commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, told reporters. It hopes to finish collecting the information in the next few weeks and will share feedback with the CDC.
Other developments
See also:
Apr 1 CDC press release
Apr 1 CDC Vital Signs report
CDC ZAP summit Web portal
CDC Zika summit draws attention to preparedness, need for emergency funds
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Apr 01, 2016 A 1-day summit to help state and local health officials fine-tune their Zika response plans drew more than 300 people to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta and came with strong pleas for Congress to approve emergency funding to support the efforts.
Puerto Rico is already battling an outbreak, and with local spread in Cuba and Mexico, the virus is right on the nation's main doorstep ahead of warmer weather and an uptick in mosquito activity. On the mainland, the disease has sickened 312 travelers, including 27 pregnant women.
President Obama's February 8 emergency funding request of $1.9 billion support the domestic and international response is stalled in Congress, with some Republican members demanding that funds be shifted from already approved Ebola money. Federal health officials for months now have warned that they expect limited illness clusters in some parts of the country.
The CDC said the goal of the Zika Action Plan (ZAP) summit is to arm public health officials with the latest information and help them identify any preparedness gaps. It also released several tools for health departments, including Zika preparedness and response guidance and action plan template forms, which are available on the summit Web site.
Also today the CDC released a Vital Signs report, which outlines the most recent information on the Zika threat, what the federal government is doing, and what pregnant couples, health departments, and health providers can do to help.
Plans to protect pregnant women need funding support
At a media briefing today, CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said the agency was encouraged by the response to the summit. He added in addition to those who attended in person, more than 2,000 took part though a live online video feed.
"The bottom line is that we are all working to protect pregnant women," he said, adding that mosquito control is a tough task, especially given technical challenges, limited funds, and the patchwork nature of control efforts across the nation. "There's an urgent need to learn more and do more."
However, lack of funding will hobble the response, Frieden said. "We need the resources to get Americans the protection they deserve."
Amy Pope, JD, White House deputy homeland security advisor and deputy assistant to the President, said the Obama administration learned valuable lessons in preparedness from the Ebola response. "We can't wait for widespread transmission," she said.
The administration has said it would look at all resources for funding, Pope said. "We can't undermine the fight against Ebola, and even if we take money from other pots, the money we have isn't enough."
Growing worries about birth defect spectrum
Edward McCabe, MD, PhD, chief medical officer for the March of Dimes, said the organization is very concerned that the nation has a narrow window to respond to the Zika threat to pregnant women and that it is closing rapidly. Swift, strong actions might prevent dozens or even hundreds of birth defects, he said, "but we must act now."
He said the range of problems health providers in other countries are reporting, from severe microcephaly to fetal growth restriction to yet known problems with brain development are sobering. "It's very concerning what we're seeing."
"The real challenge is whether our nation is going to do what's necessary to protect pregnant women," McCabe said, adding that the March of Dimes calls on Congress to approve the funding. "We should not have to fight Zika by raiding funds from other priorities."
Nicole Lurie, MD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the HHS is working aggressively with Zika test developers, one of the key countermeasure priorities. "It's like a game of cat and mouse, with developers reluctant to put skin in the game without support," she added.
Meanwhile, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) is surveying members to get a better idea of preparedness response steps they're taking, along with the ones they're not, Edward Ehlinger, MD, MPH, the group's executive director and commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, told reporters. It hopes to finish collecting the information in the next few weeks and will share feedback with the CDC.
Other developments
- The CDC updated its level 2 travel advisory for pregnant women or those considering getting pregnant to include Kosrae, an island of the Federated States of Micronesia in the western Pacific region.
- Brazilian clinicians in the Apr 2 issue of The Lancet published a case report on a likely Zika-linked Guillain-Barre syndrome case early on in the country's outbreak. The 24-year-old woman was hospitalized headache, fever, and rash 5 days after she experienced her initial symptoms, which also included weakness and numbness in her hands and feet. While hospitalized, her symptoms progressed to limb swelling and difficulty walking. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid were negative for chikungunya and dengue, but positive for Zika virus.
See also:
Apr 1 CDC press release
Apr 1 CDC Vital Signs report
CDC ZAP summit Web portal