President Obama will submit a request to Congress on Monday for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to combat the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne virus that has been linked to a rare birth defect.
If approved, the money will be spent on mosquito control programs, vaccine research, health services for low-income pregnant women, improving outbreak response and support capacities and helping Latin American countries experiencing outbreaks prevent the spread of transmission, reported The Associated Press.
Zika virus disease is most often spread by mosquitoes, though there have been reports of transmission through sexual contact. Most people infected with the virus have mild or no symptoms, but the virus has been linked to mircocephaly, a condition that may cause incomplete brain development, resulting in children being born with unusually small heads.
"What we now know is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women and women who are thinking about having a baby," Obama said in an interview that aired Monday on "CBS This Morning," reports The Hill. However, he stressed that "there shouldn't be panic on this, this is not something where people are going to die from it. ... The good news is this is not like Ebola, people don't die of Zika -- a lot of people get it and don't even know that they have it."
Still, there "is much we do not yet know about Zika and its relationship to the poor health outcomes that are being reported in Zika-affected areas," a White House facts sheet reads. "We must work aggressively to investigate these outbreaks, and mitigate, to the best extent possible, the spread of the virus."
The virus has been detected in 26 countries and territories in North and South America, and Brazil has been hit the hardest, according to the Pan American Health Organization. There is no documented transmission of Zika by mosquitoes in the U.S., but at least 50 Americans who have returned from affected countries have been diagnosed with the infection. The only known case of transmission within the U.S. is thought to have occurred in Dallas via sexual contact, according to ABC News.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised pregnant women to use protection or abstain from sex if they or their male partners have visited a Zika-infected area, according to Time.
