CDC to hold Zika summit next month
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lay out battle plans against Zika next month at a one-day summit with state and local officials ahead of the virus' anticipated arrival in the USA.
Zika is expected to spread locally in the continental USA as the weather warms up and mosquitoes emerge, the CDC says. The agency reports more than 150 travel-associated cases in the states so far. The virus is spreading locally in the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Puerto Rico, where at least 102 cases have been diagnosed.
Puerto Rico, which is also battling mosquito-borne viruses called dengue and chikungunya, could see hundreds of thousands of Zika cases, according to the CDC.
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Doctors at the summit will share the latest science on Zika, "including implications for pregnant women and strategies for mosquito control," according to the CDC. The virus is linked to microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development.
"This meeting will also provide an opportunity to increase knowledge of best communications practices and identify possible gaps in preparedness and response at the federal, state, and local levels," the CDC says.
The CDC aims "to arm state and local leaders with the necessary knowledge and technical support to have a comprehensive Zika Readiness Action Plan."
In addition to state and local leaders, officials from several federal agencies and non-government organizations will attend the summit.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the summit came out of a discussion with governors visiting the White House last month.
“It is an opportunity for us to bring together these leaders from across the country with the foremost public health experts in the U.S. government to discuss what prudent steps should be taken to protect the American people,” he said. “The administration has treated this as a top priority, and we certainly recognize that, when confronted with risks like this, early action is important.”
Earnest also called on Congress to pass the $1.8 billion emergency spending package President Obama submitted last month. “We need Congress to support that effort, and it's important for Congress not to be asleep at the switch when we have a significant emerging threat,” he said.
Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, praised the CDC for organizing the gathering. The CDC has emerged as a world leader on Zika, he added.
The CDC released guidance on sexual transmission of Zika, as well as a travel alert that warned pregnant women to avoid visiting affected countries and territories, weeks before the World Health Organization issued similar guidance.
The summit is "a real win for public health," Osterholm said. The CDC's "proactive leadership and effective communication has been a real asset for the world, not just for people of the United States."
Educating and involving local officials is crucial, Osterholm said. While federal agencies can conduct research and share the results with the public, the gritty work of eliminating the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread Zika will be done by workers in cities, towns and counties, he said. Communities will have to clean up trash that collects standing water where mosquitoes like to breed, as well as spray areas to kill adult mosquitoes.
The summit will allow national and local leaders to meet — before a crisis develops, said Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.
"One of the lessons that the United States learned from Ebola was that there was very poor coordination between federal, state and local officials, and also between public health officials and hospital services," Gostin said.