WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Some $60 million is being distributed to US states and territories in an attempt to protect people from the Zika virus and from birth defects when pregnant women are infected, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced in a press release on Thursday.
"The funding, distributed through CDC's Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC), will support activities to protect the health of the American public, especially pregnant women," the release said.
The new funding is in addition to $25 million awarded by the CDC earlier this month, the release noted.
On Wednesday, health officials reported the nation's first known case of Zika transmission by mosquito in the US state of Florida. All previous cases in the United States had originated from people returning from Zika infested areas or through sexual transmission from returning travelers.
The virus is active in more than 60 countries and more than 1,000 cases of a crippling birth defect known as microcephaly have been reported in babies born to infected mothers, mainly in Brazil.
