Zika threat expands and worsens, CDC says

WASHINGTON – Health officials warned Wednesday that the Zika virus threatens much of the Western Hemisphere, with Florida, Puerto Rico and Brazil in the crosshairs.

At a Senate hearing convened by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., three senior U.S. government experts urged Congress to pass a $1.1 billion Zika-prevention bill that has been stalled by partisan politics.

"We have made difficult decisions and redirected resources from other important public health activities to support our most critical needs," Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators on a Senate Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

"These redirected funds, however, are not enough to support a comprehensive Zika response, and they divert funding from other critically important public health activities," Frieden said.

The CDC chief criticized partisan congressional squabbling that has held up the emergency Zika funds.

"This is no way to fight epidemics," he said.

Rubio described the harm already wrought by Zika in his state and in Puerto Rico.

Both states have about 1 million Puerto Rican residents, many of whom travel frequently to the commonwealth or host visitors from there.

Zika, carried mainly by the Aedes mosquito species but also transmitted sexually among humans, has ravaged Puerto Rico, where 2,500 people have been infected. "The growing threat of the Zika virus as a full-blown public health crisis … is a clear call to action," Rubio said.

Republicans, who hold majorities in the House and Senate, have blocked a $1.9 billion emergency Zika-prevention package President Obama sent to Congress in February.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a compromise $1.1 billion bill in May, but when it was returned to the chamber last month, House Republicans in a conference committee had inserted provisions unrelated to Zika that Democrats have long opposed.

Among the provisions are limits on the Affordable Care Act, restrictions on abortions, funding cuts for birth control and the end of some key environmental controls.