The American Public Health Association (APHA) expressed “gratitude and relief” over the U.S. Senate’s passage yesterday of a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through Dec. 9 – a move which would provide $1.1 billion to prepare for and respond to the Zika virus in fiscal year 2017.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $6.8 million to national public health partners to assist state, tribal, local, and territorial jurisdictions with their Zika responses in a wide range of activities, including surveillance and epidemiology, vector control, communication and outreach to pregnant women and vulnerable populations, and planning with key stakeholders.

As of July 7, Zika has been diagnosed in 5,582* people, including 672 pregnant women, in Puerto Rico according to a new report published today in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Positive tests for people with suspected Zika virus infection have increased from 14 percent in February to 64 percent in June.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will begin making awards totaling nearly $60 million to states, cities, and territories to support efforts to protect Americans from Zika virus disease and adverse health outcomes that can result from Zika infection, including the serious birth defect microcephaly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is helping the state of Utah figure out a medical mystery: how a person with no apparent exposure to the Zika virus contracted the disease.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz (Fiocruz), a national scientific research organization linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, have begun a multi-country study to evaluate the magnitude of health risks that Zika virus infection poses to pregnant women and their developing fetuses and infants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and OSHA in late April issued new guidance and information for protecting workers from occupational exposure to Zika virus.

Women with pregnancy-related diabetes (gestational diabetes) are at greater risk of developing high blood pressure later in life; however, a healthy diet may significantly reduce that risk, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

Employees of U.S. companies seeking to avoid exposure to the Zika virus likely have few legal avenues to either refuse travel to affected areas or sue if they actually become sick from the virus, according to a report by Reuters news service.