Obama Calls for Rapid Zika Research as Virus Seen Spreading

A public health technician inspects an Aedes aegyti mosquito in a research lab to help prevent the spread of Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases at the entomology department of the Ministry of Public Health, in Guatemala City, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/JOSUE DECAVELE

uk.reuters.com - by Julie Steenhuysen and Roberta Rampton - January 27, 2016

President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for the rapid development of tests, vaccines and treatments to fight the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects and could spread to the United States in warmer months. . . .

. . . "The president emphasized the need to accelerate research efforts to make available better diagnostic tests, to develop vaccines and therapeutics, and to ensure that all Americans have information about the Zika virus and steps they can take to better protect themselves from infection," the White House said in a statement. . . .

. . . In a blog post, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins cited a Lancet study published Jan. 14 in which researchers predicted the Zika virus could be spread in areas along the East and West Coasts of the United States and much of the Midwest during warmer months, where about 200 million people live. . . .

. . . The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also announced new instructions for paediatricians treating infants whose mothers may have been exposed to the virus during pregnancy.

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CLICK HERE - White House - Statement - Readout of the President’s Meeting on Zika Virus

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The Lancet - Anticipating the international spread of Zika virus from Brazil

CLICK HERE - CDC - Interim Guidelines for the Evaluation and Testing of Infants with Possible Congenital Zika Virus Infection — United States, 2016