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US Urges Aerial Spraying Amid Jump in Puerto Rico Zika Cases
By DANICA COTO, ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ? Jul 6, 2016, 7:24 PM ET
As many as 50 pregnant women in Puerto Rico are becoming infected with Zika every day, top U.S. health officials said Wednesday as they urged the U.S. territory to strongly consider aerial spraying to prevent further spread of the mosquito-borne virus.
The warning came as Puerto Rico debates whether to fumigate with the insecticide Naled, a proposal that has sparked protests in the U.S. territory over concerns about its impact on human health and wildlife.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press that aerial spraying is the island's best defense...
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"If any part of the continental U.S. had the kind of spread of Zika that Puerto Rico has now, they would have sprayed months ago," he said.
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In May, Puerto Rico reported the first microcephaly case acquired on U.S. soil. It involved a fetus that a woman turned over to U.S. health officials who found it tested positive for Zika.
A total of 339 pregnant women in Puerto Rico have been diagnosed with Zika, and Frieden said it is only a matter of time before one of them gives birth to a child with microcephaly.
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By DANICA COTO, ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ? Jul 6, 2016, 7:24 PM ET
As many as 50 pregnant women in Puerto Rico are becoming infected with Zika every day, top U.S. health officials said Wednesday as they urged the U.S. territory to strongly consider aerial spraying to prevent further spread of the mosquito-borne virus.
The warning came as Puerto Rico debates whether to fumigate with the insecticide Naled, a proposal that has sparked protests in the U.S. territory over concerns about its impact on human health and wildlife.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press that aerial spraying is the island's best defense...
...
"If any part of the continental U.S. had the kind of spread of Zika that Puerto Rico has now, they would have sprayed months ago," he said.
...
In May, Puerto Rico reported the first microcephaly case acquired on U.S. soil. It involved a fetus that a woman turned over to U.S. health officials who found it tested positive for Zika.
A total of 339 pregnant women in Puerto Rico have been diagnosed with Zika, and Frieden said it is only a matter of time before one of them gives birth to a child with microcephaly.
...
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