Talks are under way in the Senate appropriations committee to break the stalemate over President Obama's emergency request to fund the Zika virus response, several media outlets reported today, and a new survey showed that most Americans support resources targeted to address the threat.
In scientific developments today, a team from Martinique reported Zika-related encephalopathy in two adults, and a group from Brazil reported the first Zika findings in the country's monkey population.
Senators launch funding talks
Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee said a proposal to partly fund the Zika emergency request will get a vote soon, the Associated Press (AP) reported today. Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told the news service that the measure would probably be attached to an unnamed spending bill for a Senate floor vote.
According to the report, Republican and Democratic members of the commitee said notable progress has been made on a compromise to fund Zika vaccine research.
Chris Gallegos, Cochran's spokesman, told the New York Times that the committee has been in talks with administration officials and experts to craft a "timely and responsible" response.
Obama asked for $1.9 billion in funding on Feb 8, but members of Congress have balked at the request, successfully pressuring the administration to shift $589 million, most of it from Ebola resources, for critical activities such as mosquito control and boosting lab capacity ahead of the quickly advancing mosquito season.
Federal health officials and other groups over the past several weeks have kept pressure on Congress to fully fund the request.
US public awareness
Public perceptions of the Zika virus threat were part of a new survey on the US role in global health from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) that found that although US global health efforts show a decline in public visibility, 8 in 10 have heard or read something about Zika virus.
A large majority (90%) of Americans said the US should invest resources to prevent Zika virus spread in the United States. Other measures that got large support were investing more money on Zika research (83%), helping women in outbreak countries access birth control (73%), and providing financial aid to outbreak countries (72%).
Among other findings, 58% who had heard about the threat said the United States is doing enough to protect Americans, with 26% saying the country isn't doing enough. Most (61%) are aware of the link between Zika virus and birth defects.
KFF said the random phone survey of 1,508 adults was conducted in March before the Congressional debate on redirecting and addressing the administration's emergency funding request.
Neuro complication report, virus in Brazilian monkeys
Clinicians from Martinique today reported on two encephalopathy cases from February in patients with Zika virus infections. Writing in Eurosurveillance, they described a healthy young adult who had seizures within hours of experiencing dengue-like symptoms and a patient in his or her 70s who was hospitalized with neurologic symptoms such as confusion and facial palsy. For both, Zika RNA was detected in cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, and urine.
Brazilian researchers yesterday reported the first Zika virus detection in neotropical primates in Brazil. Their results, published on bioRxiv, are from blood and oral swabs taken marmosets and capuchin monkeys from July to November 2015 . Genetic sequencing revealed that the viruses matched other Zika viruses from South America. Last week the Pan American Health Organization in a regular Zika virus update said Ecuadorian scientists detected Zika virus in tissue samples from a howler monkey during an investigation into 39 monkey deaths in a national park
Filed Under: Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News | Apr 21, 2016
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