US CDC put on highest alert as Obama seeks Zika emergency funding
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E-mail Xinhua, February 9, 2016
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday raised the activation level of its Emergency Operations Center to Level 1, its highest state of alert, as President Barack Obama requested 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in emergency funding to fight the fast-spreading Zika virus.
In an interview aired Monday on "CBS This Morning," Obama, however, urged the public not to panic over Zika, a mosquito-borne pathogen believed to cause babies to be born with abnormally small heads
"The good news is this is not like Ebola, people don't die of Zika -- a lot of people get it and don't even know that they have it," Obama said. "What we now know though is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women or women who are thinking about getting pregnant."
But the Obama administration said it is necessary to "work aggressively" because there could be limited Zika outbreaks in the country during the next few months. Currently, the CDC has not yet seen a single case of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes within the continental U.S.
"As spring and summer approach, bringing with them larger and more active mosquito populations, we must be fully prepared to mitigate and quickly address local transmission within the continental U.S., particularly in the Southern United States," the White House said in a statement.
The statement said Obama's fiscal 2017 budget plan, to be submitted to the Congress Tuesday will request more than 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in emergency funding to fight Zika.
Under Obama's proposal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would receive 1.48 billion dollars, more than half of that for the CDC, to support readiness and response capacity, implement surveillance efforts, improve laboratory capacity for Zika testing and establish rapid response teams.
The U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department would receive 376 million dollars in total to support affected countries' ability to control mosquitoes and the transmission of the virus.
Also on Monday, the CDC said its Emergency Operations Center is moving to a Level 1 activation, "reflecting the agency's assessment of the need for an accelerated preparedness to bring together experts to focus intently and work efficiently in anticipation of local Zika virus transmission by mosquitoes in the continental U.S."
Currently, more than 300 CDC staff are working at the command center, activated on Jan. 22, to monitor and coordinate the Zika emergency response.
Their work included developing laboratory tests to diagnose Zika; conducting studies to learn more about the possible linkages with microcephaly and a rare muscle weakness condition called Guillain Barre syndrome; surveillance for the virus in the U.S., including U.S. territories, and on-the-ground support in Puerto Rico, Brazil and Colombia.
The Pan American Health Organization reported 26 countries and territories in the Americas with local Zika transmission.
The U.S. CDC also reported 50 laboratory-confirmed cases among U.S. travelers from December 2015 to Feb. 5.
Zika, which usually causes mild illness, has been linked to about 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly in infants in Brazil.
U.S. CDC Director Tom Frieden told a teleconference Friday that such fetal harm was "new phenomenon" but "the association is looking stronger and stronger."
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