Zika virus is spreading in Puerto Rico -- and risk is rising for US

With local transmissions of the Zika virus increasing in Puerto Rico, federal health officials said Thursday that Congress needs to act fast on approving $1.9 billion to aid in prevention, mosquito surveillance and testing across the United States.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said she spent two days in Puerto Rico, where 475 people have tested positive for Zika and 48 pregnant women are also affected. All those infections occurred within the island nation, and that is conceing to health experts. Scientists are still trying to understand how the mosquito-boe Zika virus works, but it appears to further spread through sexual intercourse.

“The trip just emphasized that in Puerto Rico and in the U.S., this problem demands our attention and continued action,” Burwell said during a moing teleconference. “It also highlights why we need that $1.9 billion we requested.”

Burwell said federal officials had to dip into a $500 million Ebola fund to shift resources to combatting Zika in Puerto Rico, which could spread in more than 30 states in the U.S. As of this week, the U.S. Senate was nearing a vote on approving most of that $1.9 billion request made by President Obama.

The mosquito that carries the virus is already in several states, including Califoia, where 35 people have acquired Zika virus through travel. One person who traveled to an affected country also passed the virus through sexual intercourse, according to state data provided last Friday. Thirty percent of all state cases are from San Diego County, while eight are from Los Angeles County. San Beardino and Orange counties each have two cases. There are none listed for Riverside County, according to the <URL destination="https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/Default.aspx">Califoia Department of Public Health.

</URL>Across the United States, there are 388 cases, all from people who visited countries where Zika is rampant. There have been no known local transmissions, federal health officials said.

Like West Nile virus, Zika is primarily transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. The virus also can be transmitted from a pregnant mother to her baby during pregnancy or around the time of birth which can cause the newbo to have a brain defect called microcephaly, more research is underway.

Some symptoms include fever, a flat red rash and joint pain. Although death is rare, one out of five people infected with Zika virus can become very ill, according to the CDC. There is no vaccine or medications to prevent or treat Zika infections, according to the agency.

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Scientists are working on a Zika vaccine, but one that seems promising won’t be available for a first phase of a clinical trial until September, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Earlier this year, the CDC listed several countries in Central and South America, Asia, and Africa where women who are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant should avoid.