PAHO Zika Presser May 3

[niman]

Briefing on Zika by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri, Zika Incident Manager for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), will brief reporters at PAHO on Tuesday, May 3 at 2:30 p.m.

 

Both scientists are participating in a hemispheric conference on Zika Virus Risk Communication Challenges, sponsored by the PAHO and the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Dr. Fauci is giving the keynote address, Zika Virus: A Pandemic in Progress. Dr. Aldighieri is giving an update on the current epidemiological situation. Each will give a brief summary of their presentations and then answer questions.

 

WHAT:           Briefing on Zika

 

WHO:             Dr. Anthony Fauci (NIAID) and Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri (PAHO)

 

WHEN:          Tuesday May 3 at 2:30 p.m.

 

WHERE:        Room B, 2^nd floor, PAHO Headquarters, 525 23^rd St., N.W., Washington, DC

 

HOW:             In person and via livestream:  www.livestream.com/paho

                        (please copy link and open in a new browser)

 

LINKS:

 

PAHO/Zika virus

http://www.paho.org/zikavirus

 

PAHO Epidemiological alerts

http://www.paho.org/epialerts

 

http://www.paho.org 

http://www.facebook.com/PAHOWHO

http://www.youtube.com/pahopin  

http://twitter.com/pahowho #Zika #ZikaVirus

 

CONTACTS:

Leticia Linn, PAHO, [email protected], Tel. +1 202 974-3440, mobile +1 202 701-4005 ; Dan Epstein, PAHO,[email protected], Tel. +1 202 974 3579, mobile +1 301 219-2105 * Department of Communication, PAHO/WHO–www.paho.org

 

 

NIAID Media Line, Tel. +1 301-402-1663, * NIAID-www.niaid.nih.gov/

 

[niman]

Zika 'Very Likely' to Spread From Mosquitoes to Humans in US, Official Says

• By GILLIAN MOHNEY
• JULIE BARZILAY
•  

May 3, 2016, 4:15 PM ET

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Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

WATCH First Commercial Zika Virus Test Gets FDA Approval

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Health officials stressed today that they are doing everything they can to minimize Zika outbreaks in the U.S.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, said at a press conference today he thought it was "very likely" that Zika virus would spread from mosquitoes to humans in the U.S. in the future, but stressed that officials think the outbreaks will be constrained in the same manner as past domestic outbreaks of dengue fever and chikungunya.

And while a recent USA Today article categorized control of the mosquito that spreads Zika as a “lost cause,” Fauci cautioned against that mentality.

 

First US Zika Virus-Related Death Reported in Puerto Rico

 

 

El Salvador Advises Women to Avoid Pregnancy for 2 Years Due to Zika Virus Outbreak

 

 

Mosquito-Borne Zika Virus May Be Linked to Rise of Birth Defects, Puts Officials on Alert

 

“Aedes aegypti is a very difficult mosquito to control and eliminate,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to have a significant impact on it -- but it will require a very aggressive, concerted effort.”

The USA Today article pointed out that Aedes aegypti cannot be eliminated as effectively as some other species by traditional insecticide-spraying methods. But there are still other protective measures that the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization can and will engage.

These organizations are working to “raise public awareness, have cooperation at the community level to get people to eliminate and diminish standing water of any type, as well as to push and try and utilize environmentally friendly larvicides and insecticides,” Fauci said.

There is also a trial underway that involves the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to help control Aedes aegypti reproduction, which is being overseen by the FDA.

Fauci pointed out that Zika virus itself is usually mild -- but it is very dangerous for pregnant women and their fetuses, due to the risk that their babies will be born with a brain development defect known as microcephaly due to the virus.

“The focus is on pregnant women and making sure they’re not exposed to the virus,” CDCspokesman Tom Skinner told ABC News. “We want them to avoid traveling to countries with Zika and make sure they know about prevention of mosquito bites.”

Fauci also said that researchers are working on a Zika virus vaccine that will be given to humans in a study beginning in September, and that they would likely know if the vaccine is safe to use by the start of 2017 -- though it could take anywhere from one to three years.

Speaking at the PAHO press briefing, Fauci stressed that the NIH and CDC need "$1.9 billion dollars because it's critical," referring to the money requested from Congress to combat Zika.

"What I have had to do is move money, hopefully temporarily, from other areas I would have spent it [on]," said Fauci. "We need to get the Zika money to work with Zika, and we need to backfill the money to other" areas of research.

Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri, Zika incident manager for PAHO, estimated that about 500 million people in the Americas are at risk to be infected by the Zika virus.

There have been no locally transmitted cases in the continental U.S. as of yet, but there have been over 400 travel-related cases. And there have been close to 700 cases in Puerto Rico, with 65 pregnant women having been infected.

The mild nature of Zika virus for those who are not pregnant presents a challenge for officials trying to communicate its risk, Fauci noted.

“How do you communicate the danger and the threat of a disease that is fundamentally and historically mild?” he said.

Another unanswered question: Scientists do not yet know the risk of a Zika-infected pregnant woman giving birth to a baby with microcephaly. An ongoing study of pregnant women, largely in Brazil, will help to answer that question once enough data has been collected.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/zika-spread-insects-humans-us-official/story?id=38840982

 

[niman]

HEALTH

 

ZIKA VIRUS OUTBREAK

 

MAY 3 2016, 7:15 PM ET

Zika Virus Is Coming and We're Not Ready, U.S. Experts Say

by MAGGIE FOX and ERIKA EDWARDS

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Zika virus is going to start spreading in the U.S. and the country's not ready for it, experts said Tuesday.

It probably won't spread much — most U.S. areas don't have the right conditions for widespread transmission of the virus — but even a little is too much, the officials said.

 

New Map Finds 2 Billion People At Risk of Zika Virus eLife, Oxford University and the University of Washington

And preparations are uneven, said Scott Weaver of the University of Texas Medical Branch.

"One of the problems in the United States is that we have a patchwork of mosquito control programs that are generally run at the county level," Weaver said at a news conference at the end of a meeting of Zika experts at Emory University in Atlanta.

"We have nothing at the national level other than advice from the CDC and most states do not even coordinate their programs at the county level very well so. Some very poor communities have virtually nothing available. Some wealthy counties have very sophisticated programs."

Related: U.S. Isn't Ready for Zika

Zika is spread mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads yellow fever, dengue virus and chikungunya virus. There's a vaccine against yellow fever, but none against Zika, dengue or chikungunya and there have already been several small outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya in the southern U.S.

Plus the virus spreads sexually, although mosquitoes spread it faster.

"IT'S NOT JUST ENOUGH TO PUT SIGNS IN THE AIRPORT."

Hundreds of travelers have also brought Zika back with them from areas where it's spreading fast - central and South America, the Caribbean and parts of the South Pacific. Once mosquito season starts, the U.S. could have small, local outbreaks.

"Very likely we will," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a separate briefing at the Pan American Health Organization's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Related: Zika Virus Birth Defects May be Tip of the Iceberg

Zika can also be spread by Aedes albopictus mosquitoes - the Asian tiger mosquito that is becoming far more common in northern states.

"In the U.S., the range of Aedes albopticus occupies more states than Aedes aegypti," Fauci said. But he doubts it will spread Zika much. Aedes aegypti has usually been the main spreader of Zika, he said.

"I think that the risk of Zika virus beginning to circulate in the United States in the mainland — it's already in Puerto Rico of course — is going to be peaking during the next few weeks," Weaver said.

"That's because the number of travelers coming into the U.S. with Zika is very high, the temperatures are permissive now for mosquito transmission and populations of mosquitos are growing. With rainy seasons coming on in central America and the Caribbean, that could even increase the number of imported cases more."

Related: Should I Worry About Zika?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and their parent Department of Health and Human Services say they need money to help state and local governments prepare. They need money for better Zika tests, for research on treatments and to help develop a vaccine.

"It's not just enough to put signs in the airport," said Emory University's Dr. Raymond Schinazi.

They also need to study Zika, which causes often catastrophic birth defects as well as neurological problems such as the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome. Zika killed a man in Puerto Rico last week.

But the White House is in a battle with Congress over paying for all this. President Barack Obama has asked for $1.9 billion in emergency funding for the work. Republicans in Congress say they don't think that's the best way to do it and want more accountability for the money, perhaps through the regular appropriations process, which can be extremely slow.

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 Zika birth defects may be 'tip of the iceberg', experts say0:25

"This is absolutely essential," Fauci said. "We need the $1.9 billion."

Fauci has said he is raiding other funds for now, but may have to cut back on spending to fight malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases if Congress doesn't approve the money soon. One bit of progress: a Zika vaccine could start being tested in people in September.

"Unfortunately a lot of the scientists in united states are waiting for the floodgates to be opened with funding because a lot of the work that has been done so far has been done with a shoestring budget," Schinazi said.

Much of the immediate effort should focus on getting rid of mosquitoes, the World Health Organization says.

Brazil, where the epidemic is worst, had eliminated the Aedes mosquitoes in the middle of the last century. But it required heavy use of DDT to do it, and the effects on wildlife were devastating. DDT spraying is no longer done in the United States.

Related: Baseball May Postpone Puerto Rico Series Due to Zika Fears

And Weaver says current mosquito-control methods just don't work well against Aedes aegypti, which live very close to people. They tend to breed in homes and yards.

"If you just spray an aerosol of insecticides up and down the streets, like we typically do in the U.S. or out of airplanes in some locations, those insecticides are not likely to penetrate into people's houses where the mosquitoes are resting," Weaver said.

"WE NEED THE $1.9 BILLION."

"So we have to use very different strategies. We have to first of all get people to remove standing water containers from their yard," Weaver added.

"The best kind is to go inside people's houses and spray residual insecticides on the walls and their closets in dark places where mosquitoes like to rest, which is extremely labor intensive."

Plus the CDC says the mosquitoes have developed resistance to some of the insecticides.

"Aedes aegypti is a very difficult mosquito to control and eliminate. It will require a very aggressive and concerted effort," Fauci said. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/zika-virus-coming-we-re-not-ready-u-s-experts-n567261