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 In testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee about her
department's budget request, Burwell said cases of the virus had
occurred in travelers returning to the United States, and that there
had been one case of sexual transmission in Dallas. The virus has
been passed from mosquitoes to people in the U.S. territory of
Puerto Rico, she said.
President Obama is asking Congress for over $1.8 billion in
emergency funds to fight Zika at home and abroad, and pursue a
vaccine.
Burwell said the government needed the money to prepare for mosquito
control, especially in the southern states, as the country heads
into the summer months.
She said that of two kinds of mosquitoes thought to transmit the
virus, "one is a very efficient transmitter; meaning it will bite
four individuals in a meal." That mosquito is limited to the deep
southern U.S. states, she said.
The other mosquito can be found in about 20 states, and may be a
transmitter, she said.
Zika has spread quickly in South and Central America and the
Caribbean, raising fears of the possibility of a birth defect known
as microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size
that can result in developmental problems. Most infected people have
no symptoms or mild ones including fever and skin rashes.
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Burwell gave U.S. senators a closed-door briefing a day earlier
about the Obama administration's battle plan for Zika, pushing back
against Republican assertions that the administration had no
immediate need for money and could divert existing funds from a
longstanding campaign against Ebola in Africa.
She said the government needs to ramp up preparedness and mosquito
control in Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas and other Southern states
while pursuing new research and an accelerated vaccine program.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Alexander, Bernard
Orr)
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