Zika Virus Countdown: 'This Funding Is Done. It's Not Coming to Us'

 

By Maggie Fox

HOUSTON — Congress starts its final week of the summer Monday with no Zika legislation in sight.

Six months of battling has ended with little agreement on how to prepare the country for a virus that causes horrific birth defects — and that doctors, public health experts and scientists universally agree is certain to come to U.S. shores. 

And in Houston, there's little hope that help is coming.

"I am concerned that the goose is cooked. This funding is done. It's not coming to us," Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of the Harris County public health and environmental services department, told NBC News in an interview. 

Mosquito season is now in full swing across the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has registered 1,133 cases of Zika infection — all brought by travelers from Zika-affected areas. The CDC now counts 320 pregnancies affected by Zika in the states, and another 279 in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

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Source: NBC News