State and territorial health officials are redoubling prevention efforts to address the serious public health threats associated with Zika virus and to protect the health of mothers and babies. ASTHO urges sustained investments in public health funding to give state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments the resources needed to pursue a broad range of strategies to prevent Zika virus. State, territorial, and local health departments play an active role in determining the risk of ongoing local transmission through enhanced surveillance and vector control activities. "In Georgia, for example, we have limited geographic mosquito surveillance and vector control capabilities. "Public health has a long history of combatting and eradicating mosquito-borne diseases, but ensuring robust epidemiological and laboratory infrastructure across the governmental public health system is critical to stay ahead of the spread of Zika virus," says Brenda Fitzgerald, ASTHO president-elect and commissioner and state health officer of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Cameron County Health Administrator Esmeralda Guajardo says she hopes health officials who attended the conference will learn to respond quickly. Chief of Epidemiology and Immunization Services for San Diego County Public Health Karen Waters-Montijo says her county has seen cases of travel-related Zika. Health officials from across the country gathered in South Padre Island for a two-day conference on how to combat Zika on Monday and Tuesday. The Zika Boot Camp hosted by Cameron County's Department of Health and Human Services focused on education of the virus, the environmental and clinical effects of the virus, epidemiology and incident command. "We know that Zika is going to be here for the indefinite future and we want to be prepared," Waters-Montijo said.
collected by :Lucy William
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