Zika Funding squeeze shifts money from Cancer, other diseases

[Sun Chaser]

The closest confirmed case I am aware of today is in Mobile Alabama. As of Wednesday there were 903 confirm cases in Florida 91 of which were pregnant women. The reality is that it is spreading your cases throughout Alabama Georgia and Florida. We are aggressively preparing for our first case. Regardless we should always take precaution while out in the evenings are early morning when mosquitoes are biting the most. Go sleep

Thank you. You are using words "pandemic" and trying to scare people for something that has been around since 1947 and "often causes no, or only mild, symptoms". Even the CDC states that cases are "extremely rare".

I did call Congressman Jeff Miller's office and shared these thoughts and urged him (actually I talked to a staff member) to not commit any funding to anything related to Zika.

 

[Magee]

This was released by the University of Florida this week!

Nearly 400 non travel-related Zika infections will occur in Florida before the end of the summer, according to new projections by biostatisticians at the University of Florida and other institutions.

In addition, the virus is projected to spread to several other Southeastern states with handfuls of cases projected to pop up from Texas to South Carolina and even Oklahoma.

The projections come weeks after the Florida Department of Health identified the nation’s first locally acquired cases of the Zika virus in Miami-Dade County. UF researchers had already produced projections for other countries, which have experienced local Zika virus transmission for months – and in some cases, years.

Though the virus has been in South America for more than a year, some scientists doubted that it would ever come to the United States.

“It wasn’t clear at first whether mosquito densities were high enough to sustain an outbreak in the U.S.,” said Dr.Ira Longini, a professor of biostatistics in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions and the College of Medicine.

Once the first cases of locally transmitted Zika fever were identified in Miami, however, Longini and his colleagues felt more comfortable publishing 2016 estimates projecting the number of locally transmitted cases that they expect will occur in Florida.

The model projects 395 Zika infections in Florida by Sept. 15 due to local transmission and 79 symptomatic cases by the same date. In addition, they forecast that a median of eight of the infections will be in pregnant women during their first trimester.

Other states expected to see locally acquired Zika are below, followed by the number of locally acquired cases and the number of symptomatic cases:


Alabama – 11, 2
Arkansas – 3, 1
Georgia – 6, 1
Louisiana – 4, 1
Mississippi – 10, 2
Oklahoma – 12, 2
South Carolina – 16, 3
Texas – 5, 1

 

[Magee]

This is good New and a start in the right direction..........

After Congress passed a bill that provides more than $1 billion to fight Zika, the burning questions is, what does it mean for Florida?

During a conference call Thursday, Scott had a list of wants.

"We are clearly doing our part, but the one ... the CDC needs to provide an epidemiologist. They need to provide more lab support, need to come up with a faster process on tests we've sent to them," Scott said.

Scott also wants the CDC to match Florida's pledge of $25 million for Zika research and to reimburse the state for the $61 million it's already spent fighting the virus.

Both Florida senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson thanked Congress for passing the funding. Rubio's office told WESH 2 News that the bill guarantees at least $15 million to states that have active transmission of Zika, and so far, Florida is the only state that qualifies.

In July, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs hosted the U.S. Surgeon General and Secretary of Health and Human Services at Orange County Mosquito Control.

Thursday, Jacobs provided WESH 2 News with this statement: " ... We've been aggressively managing Zika for many months. We welcome all additional resources to assist in fighting Zika."

Scott also wants the CDC to provide 10,000 Zika prevention kits to Florida. Those kits have already been handed out in Puerto Rico. If a pregnant woman desires to get tested, she can do so for free at any Department of Public Health.