Two University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) professors will lead Zika research along the Texas-Mexico border as part of a multi-institutional consortium to establish a Western Gulf Center for Excellence for Vector-borne Diseases. They hope to create an early warning system to curtail the spread of the virus.
The year winds down with yet more Zika reported in Texas. While travel-related, the latest case marks the first case of the virus in Hays County.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded nearly $10 million to the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston to study emerging and exotic pathogens such as Zika. This announcement came as Texas reported its sixth locally-transmitted case of the virus.
Officials from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced the state’s first Zika case likely spread by a local mosquito.
Texas public health officials issued an alert to doctors, urging more Zika testing along the Texas-Mexico border, considered a high-risk area for the virus to spread in the event of local transmission.
A pregnant woman is the first person diagnosed with Zika in Montgomery County, say Texas public health officials. They did not indicate where the woman contracted the virus, only that it was on travel outside of the United States to a known Zika-infested region.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced Monday a Texas resident contracted Zika while in south Florida, bringing it back with him to El Paso.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott pressed President Barack Obama to release the estimated $400 million in federal funds earmarked for Zika preparedness and response to “Zika-prone states.” Abbott highlighted the highly vulnerable Texas southern border where local government leaders fear “sufficient funding is not available for mosquito eradication.”
Texas officials say they are on high alert, concerned that Zika transmission by local mosquitoes is imminent, largely in response to the outbreak in Florida. On Wednesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) urged all Texans to follow public health prevention guidelines, especially pregnant women whose unborn babies are most at risk when infected with Zika.
