As the list of Americans infected with the Zika virus grows, Congress is starting to pay a lot more attention to the spreading disease.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell will visit Congress next week to brief Senate committees and leadership on the virus’ risks and how its spread can be prevented, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Wednesday.
McConnell also said he and House Speaker Paul Ryan discussed Zika at a White House meeting earlier this week.
“We know there is an increasing amount of concern about what the spread of this virus could mean for the United States as we head toward warmer months,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.
“Given the public concern that followed the first Ebola case in our country, I think we could all benefit from having a better understanding of what preparations are being made to protect Americans,” he said.
The House Republican Policy Committee is inviting members to a Feb. 17 meeting, where public health officials and Energy and Commerce Committee staff will provide a briefing on the disease and how to halt it.
More than 30 Americans have been found to have the Zika virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Until Tuesday, all of the patients had contracted the virus while traveling abroad, mostly in in South American and central American countries where the virus is spreading rapidly.
But Zika now has been found to be sexually transmitted in Texas, to a patient who had sex with a partner who had recently traveled to Venezuela. While infections for the virus are typically mild and don’t lead to death, Zika is linked to brain deformities in babies, prompting widespread concern among health authorities worldwide. The World Health Organization declared the virus a public health emergency on Monday.
The CDC issued a travel alert late Wednesday for two more destinations, adding Jamaica and Tonga in the south Pacific to the list of places with outbreaks where travelers could be at risk for contracting the virus, which is mainly spread through mosquitos. Thirty destinations are now on the list, most of them in Latin America or the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service announced Wednesday a 28-day wait period for anyone who wishes to donate blood who recently traveled to affected countries. The move comes a day after the American Red Cross issued a similar notice on blood donations.
The relief group did say that the chances of getting Zika through a blood transfusion are “extremely low due to the absence of local mosquito transmission.”
