Examining The Us Public Health Response To The Zika Virus

Examining the U.S. public health response to the Zika virus : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, second session, March 2, 2016.

Examining the U.S. public health response to the Zika virus : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, second session, March 2, 2016.

This report presents the testimony at recent hearings about the ongoing Zika virus crisis. The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations for the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing called Examining the U.S. Public Health Response to the Zika Virus. This virus of mosquito-borne pathogen is currently rampaging through South and Central America, and in total has spread to more than 48 countries and territories. While as of late February there have been no known locally-acquired mosquito-borne cases reported in the Continental U.S., over 100 travel-associated Zika Virus cases have been identified in over 20 states. Outside of the 50 states local mosquito-borne transmissions have been reported in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Public health officials in the U.S. are bracing for the time when Zika passes from a traveler with Zika in his or her blood to a local mosquito, and then to another person. Only about one and five people with Zika infection exhibit symptoms, most of which are mild and flu-like. Of greater concern is growing evidence of a link between Zika infection and microcephaly, a congenital birth defect in infants born to infected mothers, as well as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an immune disorder that can result in temporary paralysis. On this basis, the World Health Organization recently declared Zika a public health emergency of international concern. The virus may also be transmitted through blood transfusions and sex leaving the Center for Disease Control to issue interim guidelines for prevention of sexual transmission, and the Food and Drug Administration to take steps to reduce the risk to the U.S. blood supply. Thus far, there has been only one reported case in the U.S. of a child born with microcephaly to a mother with travel-associated Zika Virus. However, another pregnant American woman other pregnant American women have become infected with Zika. Our understanding of how the virus may impact a developing child during pregnancy is nearly non-existent. We can, however, reasonably assume that a virus affecting development of the brain on a large scale leading to microcephaly in the first trimester will also impact significant developmental functions for infants, toddlers, and children exposed to the Zika Virus. These include my concerns for developmental disorders of difficulty with learning, primary sensory and sensory integration, memory, attention, concentration, behavior, mood, language, motor, and others. Given all of the unknowns the importance of acting now to protect pregnant women and women of reproductive age from exposure to Zika Virus cannot be overstated. However, we must be equally concerned with protecting infants and children with developing brains and not wait five to ten years for symptoms to appear before we take action to protect, to track, and to treat.

While much progress has been made on achieving the Millenium Development Goals over the last decade, the number and complexity of global health challenges has persisted. Growing forces for globalization have increased the interconnectedness of the world and our interdependency on other countries, economies, and cultures. Monumental growth in international travel and trade have brought improved access to goods and services for many, but also carry ongoing and ever-present threats of zoonotic spillover and infectious disease outbreaks that threaten all. Global Health and the Future Role of the United States identifies global health priorities in light of current and emerging world threats. This report assesses the current global health landscape and how challenges, actions, and players have evolved over the last decade across a wide range of issues, and provides recommendations on how to increase responsiveness, coordination, and efficiency â€" both within the U.S. government and across the global health field.

This open access book is a collection of 12 case studies capturing decades of experience improving health care and outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Each case study is written by healthcare managers and providers who have implemented health improvement projects using quality improvement methodology, with analysis from global health experts on the practical application of improvement methods. The book shows how frontline providers in health and social services can identify gaps in care, propose changes to address those gaps, and test the effectiveness of their changes in order to improve health processes and outcomes. The chapters feature cases that provide real-life examples of the challenges, solutions, and benefits of improving healthcare quality and clearly demonstrate for readers what quality improvement looks like in practice:Addressing Behavior Change in Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health with Quality Improvement and Collaborative Learning Methods in GuatemalaHaiti’s National HIV Quality Management Program and the Implementation of an Electronic Medical Record to Drive Improvement in Patient CareScaling Up a Quality Improvement Initiative: Lessons from Chamba District, IndiaPromoting Rational Use of Antibiotics in the Kyrgyz RepublicStrengthening Services for Most Vulnerable Children through Quality Improvement Approaches in a Community Setting: The Case of Bagamoyo District, TanzaniaImproving HIV Counselling and Testing in Tuberculosis Service Delivery in Ukraine: Profile of a Pilot Quality Improvement Team and Its Scale‐Up JourneyImproving Health Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Case Book will find an engaged audience among healthcare providers and administrators implementing and managing improvement projects at Ministries of Health in low- to middle-income countries. The book also aims to be a useful reference for government donor agencies, their implementing partners, and other high-level decision makers, and can be used as a course text in schools of public health, public policy, medicine, and development. ACKNOWLEDGMENT:This work was conducted under the USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) Project, USAID Award No. AID-OAA-A-12-00101, which is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). DISCLAIMER:The contents of this book are the sole responsibility of the Editor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. div=""^

This book gathers contributions by 39 international specialists on well-known but neglected mosquito-borne diseases. The authors highlight pathogens that are increasingly being spread worldwide by various mosquito species, a situation worsened further by migration and tourism. The book addresses significant agents of diseases like AIDS, dengue, Zika virus, malaria and even cancer, and the risk of transmission via mosquito-related vectors. In addition, it examines important means of preventing the outbreak of related diseases by using insecticides and/or repellents. A particular focus is on the unique and sophisticated mouthparts of bloodsucking species, which allow them to feed on blood in an undisturbed manner, and by means of which agents of disease can enter potential human and animal hosts. In brief, the book provides a broad range of information for a wide readership, including graduates, teachers and researchers in the fields of parasitology, virology, tropical medicine and microbiology, as well as practitioners and healthcare officials.

The aim of the book was to produce the most comprehensive examination of a pandemic that has ever been attempted. By cataloging the full extent of the Zika pandemic, this book will be the most complete history and epistemic contextualization ever attempted to date. The work should function as the primary source for students, researchers, and scholars who need information about the Zika pandemic. This book examines the technical literature, digital and popular literature, and online materials to fully contextualize this event and provide a bona fide record of this event and its implications for the future. It is somewhat serendipitous that while this work was underway, we are going through another pandemic. One of the primary lessons we did not learn by Zika was pandemic events will return repeatedly, and we need to learn from each one of them to prepare the planet for the next one. Just because Zika seemed to have died out does not make it less important. We were lucky that the virus evolved into what seemed to be a less virulent version of itself, and the vector mosquitoes were concentrated elsewhere. Finally, this book represents a tour de force in scholarship involving nearly 4,000 sources of information and does not shy from a detailed examination of the controversies, conspiracies, and long-term consequences when we avoid learning from outbreaks, such as Zika.