As Zika Season Nears, States Brace for an End to CDC Funding

tate programs that track Zika infections and Zika-related birth defects around the country are in jeopardy as public health officials have been told not to count on federal funds for those efforts after July.

In meetings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta last week, federal officials told state health departments that Zika funding initially envisioned to last five years will likely run out this summer instead, according to representatives of six states that attended the meetings. State health officials say this could harm their ability to prepare for an inevitable wave of new infections, or to provide services for babies already struggling with Zika-related birth-defects.

The potential loss of federal funding comes as health officials are bracing for this summer’s mosquito season, and as the dangers associated with the mosquito-borne disease are finally becoming clearer. After the disease erupted in Brazil in 2015, it was discovered that the otherwise mild virus caused neurological defects in developing fetuses. A CDC report released this month concluded that one in 10 pregnant women with Zika gave birth to a child with serious birth defects. Another CDC study found that a Zika infection increased the chances of delivering a baby with certain birth defects 20-fold.

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