House hearing examines public health response to Zika virus

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations today held a hearing on the U.S. public health response to the Zika virus. Luciana Borio, M.D., acting chief scientist for the Food and Drug Administration, noted that a test to detect antibodies in the blood from about four days to 12 weeks after infection, approved last week under an emergency use authorization, has already been made available to qualified labs in 19 states and territories. Among other actions, she said FDA is reviewing a proposal to field test in Florida a genetically engineered mosquito to suppress the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary transmitter of the virus. Peter Hotez, M.D., Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, said Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are highly prevalent along the U.S. Gulf Coast and urged the committee to “aggressively pursue policies to protect the Gulf Coast from Zika.” Also testifying at the hearing were officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Government Accountability Office, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, American Mosquito Control Association, and O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.