In Ann McFeatters’ Aug. 21 opinion column, “As House GOP vacations, public safety at risk,” regarding the Zika virus, she states, “Clearly, few members of Congress know what this is all about.”
Horrendous as Zika-caused microcephaly is, the Centers for Disease Control reports 14 locally acquired, presumed local mosquito-borne, transmission cases within the U.S., all in Florida (http://bit.ly/2bfeNS2). Cases from travelers returning from affected areas, from their sexual contacts, or from infants infected in utero, totaled 2,246, primarily in New York (26 percent), Florida (18 percent), California (6 percent) and Texas (5 percent), totaling 55 percent.
The U.S. has 435 representatives, with those states totaling 33 percent of them. With only one state reporting any locally acquired, presumed local mosquito-borne cases, with 35 states reporting 1 percent or less of all cases, and with the election season upon us, I suspect most members of Congress have a firm grasp of the numbers.
Interestingly, local mosquito-borne cases totaled 14, while travel, sex, and utero cases totaled 2,246. Local mosquitoes caused 1 percent of the 2,260 total cases. Much attention is given to the mosquitoes, which could become a larger problem, but we, the people, are currently causing 99 percent of the cases.
