Zika funding stalls in congress

This week, the CDC took the historic step of issuing an advisory for travel within the continental United States: namely Miami, Florida, where the Zika virus is now being transmitted locally by mosquitoes.

While symptoms of the Zika virus itself are generally mild or even non-existent, being infected with the disease while pregnant has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect causing infants to be born with abnormally small heads and brain damage.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Democrats blocked a bill authorizing $1.1 billion in funds to fight Zika in the United States, citing provisions added by House Republicans that cut financing for the Affordable Care Act, restricted the role of Planned Parenthood and other women's health clinics, and eased restriction on pesticide use. .

Those concerned about the Zika virus call the infection a public health crisis. They cite higher than normal rates of microcephaly in effected countries such as Brazil, and argue that swift and decisive action must be taken to fight the disease, which could potentially spread throughout the southern United States.

Others counter that concerns about Zika are overblown, as conditions here make it easier to control mosquitoes in populated areas. They note that other mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, while common in other parts of the world, have never become prominent in the United States.