Zika is an emergency; infected mosquitos may arrive in the U.S. this summer; “and there’s much that we still don’t know about it,” Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Congress on Wednesday.
He said 30 or more states are at risk of transmission — southern states more so than others. And warmer weather accelerates the danger:
Friedan said at least 13 states have aedes aegypti, the mosquito that is most effective at spreading the virus. “Aedes albopictus also can spread Zika. It is probably a less efficient vector, and there are more than 30 states” with that type of mosquito.
Frieden said one of the problems with controlling the spread of Zika is that “surveillance for mosquitoes is not perfect, it’s not up to date” in the states that may be affected.
The Obama administration is requesting $1.856 billion in emergency spending to respond to the Zika virus, both domestically and internationally. Of that total, $828 million would go to the CDC.
“Our staff are working literally around the clock,” Frieden said. “We’ve produced more than a half a million test kits. We have more than 800 staff working on the Zika response now. We’re scraping together money from wherever we can find it to respond effectively, but a robust response I do believe will take emergency funding.”
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