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Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-persp...ore-funds-zika
Florida, other states get more funds for Zika
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Jul 21, 2016
News of Florida's first suspected locally acquired Zika virus case, which would be the nation's first, got high-level attention, with President Barack Obama calling the state's governor yesterday to promise $5.6 million more in funding support, part of a bigger package announced today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While health officials await confirmation that the patient, reported to be an adult woman, contracted Zika virus from local mosquitoes, federal health officials today announced three more Zika-related birth defects in newborns.
In another new development, a team from Brazil's Fiocruz Institute reported that Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes are a potential Zika virus vector, based on findings from mosquitoes collected from the city of Recife.
$60 million in new state funding
According to a White House statement yesterday, Obama called Gov Rick Scott regarding the suspected Zika case and recognized Florida's strong record of aggressively responding to mosquito-borne illnesses such as Zika, and he offered federal support for the investigation and mosquito control efforts.
Obama said in addition to $2 million that the CDC has provided to Florida for Zika preparedness, the agency planned on adding $5.6 million through a grant to be awarded this week.
Today the CDC announced $60 million to help states and territories battle Zika virus, on top of $25 million awarded on Jul 1, with funds available on Aug 1. The CDC also said on Aug 1 it will award another $10 million to jurisdictions to help quickly detect microcephaly and other birth defects linked to Zika virus and refer affected families to services.
The funding source for today's announcement comes from the CDC's Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC), designed to bolster public health department capacity to respond to emerging or reemerging infectious disease threats. So far this year the CDC has awarded $240 million, more than double the $110 million in 2015. In addition to addressing Zika, the CDC made awards this year for an antibiotic resistance initiative, foodborne illnesses, vaccine-preventable disease tracking, and enhanced capacity for molecular detection of pathogens.
Today's awards are earmarked for activities such as surveillance, improving mosquito control and monitoring, strengthening lab capacity, and supporting Zika-affected pregnancy registries and birth defect monitoring.
The CDC said though the ELC funding is an important tool, without congressional approval of President Obama's $1.9 billion to battle Zika virus, more support will be needed for mosquito control and the development of vaccines, lab tests, and other tools.
Three more US babies with Zika birth defects
Meanwhile, the number of newborns with Zika-related birth defects grew by 3 last week, raising the number of such pregnancy outcomes to 18. Six of these reflect pregnancy losses. In the US territories, the number of Zika-linked birth defects remained at one, an earlier noted pregnancy loss.
In the latest update from two CDC Zika pregnancy registries, the agency said 54 more infections linked to travel have been reported from US states, lifting the number to 400. Meanwhile, 75 more illnesses in pregnant women have been reported in US territories, most of them in Puerto Rico, raising that total to 378.
US territories saw another big jump in local Zika infections last week, mainly from activity in Puerto Rico. The region reported 910 more infections, boosting the total to 3,815. Two more Zika-related Guillain-Barre syndrome cases were reported, with that total at 14 now.
In US states, the number of travel-linked cases grew by 98, stretching the total to 1,403.
Brazil mosquito findings
The Fiocruz Institute, meanwhile described its unpublished findings on a report in Portuguese on its Web site. It said in Recife, an area hit hard by the virus, the population of C quinquefasciatus (southern house mosquitoes) is 20 times higher than that of Aedes aegypti, the species more commonly thought to transmit the virus.
The southern house mosquito is found across the southern United States, is an opportunistic feeder that bites at night, and is known to spread diseases such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus, according to background information from the University of Florida.
According to preliminary findings, Culex mosquitoes naturally infected with Zika virus were found in 3 of 80 pools analyzed so far. The report didn't say when the testing was done, but that it was conducted following illnesses in Recife and Acroverde. Tests on two of the samples suggested the virus was widely disseminated.
Additional lab tests on Culex and Ae aeqypti mosquitos fed blood with and without Zika virus found the virus in the salivary glands of both species, while both had similar viral loads.
The Fiocruz researchers said the findings are important, because mosquito control efforts vary for the two different species. They noted, however, that until more evidence is collected, policies will continue to focus on Ae aeqypti.
A few days ago, Mexican researchers involved in the investigation of a Zika outbreak in the country's southern Chiapas state did not find Zika in any C quinquefasciatus that were collected. They did, however, find the virus in Ae aegypti mosquitoes.
See also:
Jul 20 White House statement
Jul 21 CDC press release
Jul 21 CDC update on Zika-related pregnancy outcomes
Jul 21 CDC update on Zika infections in pregnant women
Jul 21 CDC update on Zika cases in US and territories
Jul 21 Fiocruz Institute announcement
University of Florida background info on Culex quinquefasciatus
Jul 19 CIDRAP News story "Mosquito studies show rapid Zika spread, rule out some US species"
Florida, other states get more funds for Zika
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Jul 21, 2016
News of Florida's first suspected locally acquired Zika virus case, which would be the nation's first, got high-level attention, with President Barack Obama calling the state's governor yesterday to promise $5.6 million more in funding support, part of a bigger package announced today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While health officials await confirmation that the patient, reported to be an adult woman, contracted Zika virus from local mosquitoes, federal health officials today announced three more Zika-related birth defects in newborns.
In another new development, a team from Brazil's Fiocruz Institute reported that Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes are a potential Zika virus vector, based on findings from mosquitoes collected from the city of Recife.
$60 million in new state funding
According to a White House statement yesterday, Obama called Gov Rick Scott regarding the suspected Zika case and recognized Florida's strong record of aggressively responding to mosquito-borne illnesses such as Zika, and he offered federal support for the investigation and mosquito control efforts.
Obama said in addition to $2 million that the CDC has provided to Florida for Zika preparedness, the agency planned on adding $5.6 million through a grant to be awarded this week.
Today the CDC announced $60 million to help states and territories battle Zika virus, on top of $25 million awarded on Jul 1, with funds available on Aug 1. The CDC also said on Aug 1 it will award another $10 million to jurisdictions to help quickly detect microcephaly and other birth defects linked to Zika virus and refer affected families to services.
The funding source for today's announcement comes from the CDC's Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC), designed to bolster public health department capacity to respond to emerging or reemerging infectious disease threats. So far this year the CDC has awarded $240 million, more than double the $110 million in 2015. In addition to addressing Zika, the CDC made awards this year for an antibiotic resistance initiative, foodborne illnesses, vaccine-preventable disease tracking, and enhanced capacity for molecular detection of pathogens.
Today's awards are earmarked for activities such as surveillance, improving mosquito control and monitoring, strengthening lab capacity, and supporting Zika-affected pregnancy registries and birth defect monitoring.
The CDC said though the ELC funding is an important tool, without congressional approval of President Obama's $1.9 billion to battle Zika virus, more support will be needed for mosquito control and the development of vaccines, lab tests, and other tools.
Three more US babies with Zika birth defects
Meanwhile, the number of newborns with Zika-related birth defects grew by 3 last week, raising the number of such pregnancy outcomes to 18. Six of these reflect pregnancy losses. In the US territories, the number of Zika-linked birth defects remained at one, an earlier noted pregnancy loss.
In the latest update from two CDC Zika pregnancy registries, the agency said 54 more infections linked to travel have been reported from US states, lifting the number to 400. Meanwhile, 75 more illnesses in pregnant women have been reported in US territories, most of them in Puerto Rico, raising that total to 378.
US territories saw another big jump in local Zika infections last week, mainly from activity in Puerto Rico. The region reported 910 more infections, boosting the total to 3,815. Two more Zika-related Guillain-Barre syndrome cases were reported, with that total at 14 now.
In US states, the number of travel-linked cases grew by 98, stretching the total to 1,403.
Brazil mosquito findings
The Fiocruz Institute, meanwhile described its unpublished findings on a report in Portuguese on its Web site. It said in Recife, an area hit hard by the virus, the population of C quinquefasciatus (southern house mosquitoes) is 20 times higher than that of Aedes aegypti, the species more commonly thought to transmit the virus.
The southern house mosquito is found across the southern United States, is an opportunistic feeder that bites at night, and is known to spread diseases such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus, according to background information from the University of Florida.
According to preliminary findings, Culex mosquitoes naturally infected with Zika virus were found in 3 of 80 pools analyzed so far. The report didn't say when the testing was done, but that it was conducted following illnesses in Recife and Acroverde. Tests on two of the samples suggested the virus was widely disseminated.
Additional lab tests on Culex and Ae aeqypti mosquitos fed blood with and without Zika virus found the virus in the salivary glands of both species, while both had similar viral loads.
The Fiocruz researchers said the findings are important, because mosquito control efforts vary for the two different species. They noted, however, that until more evidence is collected, policies will continue to focus on Ae aeqypti.
A few days ago, Mexican researchers involved in the investigation of a Zika outbreak in the country's southern Chiapas state did not find Zika in any C quinquefasciatus that were collected. They did, however, find the virus in Ae aegypti mosquitoes.
See also:
Jul 20 White House statement
Jul 21 CDC press release
Jul 21 CDC update on Zika-related pregnancy outcomes
Jul 21 CDC update on Zika infections in pregnant women
Jul 21 CDC update on Zika cases in US and territories
Jul 21 Fiocruz Institute announcement
University of Florida background info on Culex quinquefasciatus
Jul 19 CIDRAP News story "Mosquito studies show rapid Zika spread, rule out some US species"