The growing threat of the Zika virus was the central focus of testimony by leading U.S. authorities at a hearing held today by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s global health subcommittee, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04).

 “We must work harder to prevent maternal infections and devise compassionate ways to ensure that any child born with disabilities from this or any other infection is welcomed, loved and gets the care he or she needs,” Smith said. “Just as scientists found ways, including highly efficacious drugs, to prevent transmission of HIV-AIDS in pregnant women to their unborn children, further research must be undertaken to prevent mother-to-child transmission of other infectious diseases including Zika virus, if that link is established.”

 “There is much scientists admit they don’t know about the Zika virus itself,” Smith said. “Lack of knowledge and misinformation has stoked apprehension and fear among many. This hearing will look into the implications of the current and long-term threat from the Zika virus, and we have assembled expert infectious health leaders from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Agency for International Development to help us do so.” Click here to read Chairman Smith’s testimony.

 The congressional hearing, entitled “The Global Zika Epidemic,” featured top American health officials on the topic of Zika: Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and; Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez, M.D., Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

 Zika is an emerging health threat and it is a rapidly changing situation involving many partners in this country and abroad, said Dr. Frieden.

 “There are many things we don’t yet know about Zika,” Frieden said. “We are figuring out more about Zika literally every day, and will share information – and adjust our guidelines and recommendations – as we learn more. That is the nature of a scientific response to an emerging health threat. The doctors, scientists, veterinarians, and others at CDC are working around the clock to protect Americans from this and other health threats. We already have made significant progress identifying the virus in brain tissue of affected infants, developing and distributing new diagnostic tests, issuing guidance, conducting epidemiological investigations along with affected countries, and improving monitoring and surveillance in the United States, including in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Much of what we know about Zika and similar viruses today is based on the work done by CDC scientists who have dedicated their lives to working in this area.” Click here to read Dr. Frieden’s statement.

 Dr. Fauci, director of NIAID, the NIH’s lead institute for conducting and supporting research on infectious diseases, including flaviviruses such as Zika virus, said infections caused by the Zika virus are usually asymptomatic.

 “About 20 percent of infected individuals experience clinical symptoms such as fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes),” Fauci testified. “Symptoms of Zika virus infection in humans are typically mild and brief, with very low hospitalization and fatality rates. In response to public health concerns about Zika virus, NIAID has accelerated ongoing flavivirus research efforts to speed the development of tools that could help control current and future outbreaks of Zika virus.” Click here to read Dr. Fauci’s testimony.

 Pablos-Mendez noted that on February 1, the World Health Organization announced that the recent cluster of microcephaly and other neurological disorders reported in the Americas constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and that it coincided with Zika virus disease outbreaks in that region.

 “It is important to recognize that national surveillance systems, laboratory capacity, and preparedness across the developing world are insufficient to deal with the influx of new and emerging pathogens,” Pablos-Mendez said. “It is estimated that of the 194 countries committed to International Health Regulations, only 35 percent are fully prepared to detect and respond to pandemic threats. USAID, working with our interagency and international partners is working to address this through many of our existing programs. In addition, there are also tools, albeit limited, at our disposal to slow the transmission of Zika virus by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Vector control of adult Aedes aegypti is difficult to do correctly and is labor- and cost-intensive. We need new tools and enhanced capacity.” Click here to ready Pablos-Mendez’s testimony.

 Smith told the witnesses that for more than four years, he has been advocating his bipartisan legislation the “End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act,” H.R. 1797, which the full Foreign Affairs Committee approved it last month.

 “Zika has now joined the ranks of previously little-known diseases that have created global alarm,” Smith said. “Before the next explosive health crisis appears, we must provide sufficient resources to the study of tropical diseases. H.R. 1797 authorizes the creation of Centers of Excellence to study every aspect of these dreaded diseases. Zika virus is the latest crisis but won’t be the last.”

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