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On Friday, the CDC reported that 279 pregnant women in the US and its territories have tested positive for Zika virus, which is nearly double the reported number of cases from earlier this month. As you likely know by now, the major concern around Zika is its potential to cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly, where a baby is born with a smaller-than-normal head. While an approximate 300 cases might seem small in the grand scheme of the American population, the level of alarm surrounding the virus’s potential to spread further and faster come summer is at an all-time high.
And the fact that the US government has been slow to act on preventative measures isn’t helping things: More than three months after President Obama requested a $1.8 billion emergency funding measure to fight Zika, the Senate finally passed a compromise bill of $1.1 billion (after a House Republicans’ $622 million bill was rejected for being far too low). That money will go toward fortifying US health systems to prevent, detect, and respond to Zika transmission; speed research and development of vaccines and diagnostics; and more. MORE: Exactly What IS the Zika Virus"
The truth is, the US desperately needs that money to research Zika because part of what makes it so scary is how much we don’t know about it. There’s a lot: According to the CDC, we don’t know how likely a pregnant woman who has been exposed to Zika is to get the virus...