Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 9th August 2016
As the number of people in the United States and Puerto Rico with the Zika virus approaches 7,400, public health officials are learning the mosquitoes that can transmit the virus are deceptively formidable foes.[Continued here]…
Congress hasn’t budged in the five weeks since President Barack Obama asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to deal with the Zika virus. But Zika isn’t waiting.
In the weeks since the president’s request, the number of cases of the mosquito-borne virus among people who traveled to countries where transmission has been confirmed has almost quadrupled to 193, as of March 9. It is in nearly twice as many states — 32 and the District of Columbia — with Florida, New York and Texas topping the list. In Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, the number of cases is 174, or 19 times higher, reports the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [continued here] …
Volume 387, Number 10019The US Congress recently approved the largest single increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 12 years—a US$2 billion raise that was twice as much as President Barack Obama requested. But almost as soon as NIH supporters stopped cheering, they began to worry about next year’s budget, and the challenge of a new public health threat, Zika virus.
NIH Director Francis Collins told The Lancet that the funding boost “was enormously gratifying”. But if it is “a one-hit wonder”, he said “it won’t be sufficient to take full advantage of the remarkable scientific opportunities and talent that is out there”. [Continued here] [podcast here]
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Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 12th February 2016
President Barack Obama asked Congress this week for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding 
to respond to Zika virus and administration officials wasted no time in explaining why at four congressional hearings less than two days later.
While such Capitol Hill visits are part of the budget process, the looming virus adds a new urgency to the proceedings–though not necessarily enough to deter controversy. [Continued here]…