Zika virus: Congress looks toward a cure


Congress is voting on a bill aimed at finding a cure for the Zika virus.

Aside from adding Zika to an FDA list of tropical diseases, it would also offer incentives to drug companies to come up with a vaccine for the virus.

The bill is up for a vote by the House on Tuesday.

It is a far cry from the nearly $2 billion President Obama requested.

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Last week, $500 million in left over funds from the fight against Ebola was transferred to combat Zika.

“If we don’t get the money the president has asked for, we're not gonna be able to take it to point where we accomplished  what we need to do,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of National Institute of Health said at a White House briefing Monday. “So the answer is we don’t have what we need, but we're still going full blast by drawing money from other areas.”

There are about 350 confirmed Zika cases in 30 states. So far, none of those cases is believed to have been contracted in the U.S.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered their firmest language yet about the dangers of Zika virus:

"Most of what we've learned is not reassuring," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought."

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