Global chemical companies are helping to fight the virus pandemic by stepping up production of hand sanitizers, polymers for personal protective equipment, bleach for disinfectants, and cleaning products.

It’s flu season. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts research on protecting health care providers and other workers from infectious diseases including influenza. A significant portion of our research deals with understanding how the influenza virus is transmitted. Influenza is known to be transmitted through respiratory secretions containing the virus.

Climate-related occupational hazards have historically received little attention. In 2009, NIOSH began work to address this gap and developed a framework to identify climate-related occupational hazards.

Striking or scraping: The majority of eye injuries result from small particles or objects striking or scraping the eye, such as: dust, cement chips, metal slivers, and wood chips. These materials are often ejected by tools, windblown, or fall from above a worker.

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 IPIECA -- The global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues -- and the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) have put together a manual to help oil and gas companies effectively deal with disease outbreaks.

Outdoor workers in areas with large populations of those mosquitoes should take extra precautions to avoid mosquito bites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is working to ensure people living and working in areas where Zika is spreading or in areas where Zika could spread through the local mosquito population know how to protect themselves from infection.

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.

The outbreak of Zika that has spread through Central and South America, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean has reached the United States mainland, with four locally-transmitted cases reported in Florida on Friday.

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.