Health Officials Warn 30-Plus States Are In Danger As Zika Overruns Puerto Rico
The mosquito that carries Zika is already in several states, including California, where 35 people have acquired the virus through travel. Meanwhile, experts have begun calling the constellation of maladies linked to the virus congenital Zika syndrome, because they go far beyond what happens with babies who just have microcephaly.
Los Angeles Daily News:
30 US States At Risk As Zika Virus Spreads Through Puerto Rico, Feds Warn
With local transmission of the Zika virus increasing in Puerto Rico, federal health officials said Thursday that Congress needs to act fast on approving $1.9 billion to aid in prevention, mosquito surveillance and testing across the United States. (Abram, 4/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Brain Damage In Zika Babies Is Far Worse Than Doctors Expected
The scale and severity of prenatal damage by the Zika virus are far worse than past birth defects associated with microcephaly, a condition characterized by a small head and brain abnormalities. Scans, imaging and autopsies show that Zika eats away at the fetal brain. It shrinks or destroys lobes that control thought, vision and other basic functions. It prevents parts of the brain not yet formed from developing. “These aren’t just microcephaly, like a slightly small head. The brain structure is very abnormal,” said Jeanne Sheffield, director of maternal-fetal medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who has been counseling pregnant women about microcephaly for two decades. (Magalhaes and McKay, 4/28)