CDC Director Issues Grim Zika Warning

MIAMI — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delivered a grim assessment Tuesday of the government's ability to contain Zika, saying it's too late to stop the dangerous virus from spreading throughout the United States, USA Today reported.

"Zika and other diseases spread by (the Aedes aegypti mosquito) are really not controllable with current technologies," CDC Director Thomas Frieden said. "We will see this become endemic in the hemisphere."

Speaking at the CityLab 2016 conference in this southern city, Frieden encouraged mayors and city officials in attendance to bolster mosquito control divisions, public health budgets and outreach to citizens to educate them about the looming threat.

Frieden said the federal government is hamstrung when responding to public health emergencies like Zika, which can cause devastating birth defects in babies born to women infected while pregnant. Frieden said his agency has been forced to cut back on several programs in order to respond to Zika, including HIV testing and immunization programs. The agency also had to pull back money from an ongoing program to prevent another Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he added.

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Source: USA Today