Florida reports 1st baby born with Zika-related birth defect

Florida on Tuesday reported its first case of a baby born with complications from Zika, prompting a frustrated Gov. Rick Scott to call on federal and state authorities to work together to fight the virus.

He also asked the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to host a call with Florida health care professionals to discuss the neurological impacts of the virus.

The child’s mother is a Haitian citizen who was infected with the virus before arriving in the United States, officials said. They did not release the county in which she lives. The child has microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head.

Nationwide, there have been four births and four pregnancy losses involving babies with Zika-related birth defects, according to the CDC. The agency isn’t reporting the states for privacy reasons, but it confirmed in February the birth of a baby with microcephaly in Hawaii. The third such case was confirmed in New Jersey early in June in a Honduran woman.

At the same time, the number of people with travel-related Zika infection continues to grow in the United States. Nationwide, there have been more than 800 confirmed cases, including 265 pregnant women. Florida has reported more than 220 cases, 40 of which are in pregnant women.

Scott has continued to push for more funding to combat Zika and expressed concern with the partisan gridlock that has crippled attempts to get federal money to Florida to fight Zika.

“Everybody can argue about what the right number is. What’s frustrating to me is, they need to get started,” Scott said at a Zika roundtable discussion in West Palm Beach. “Hurricane season has started, the rainy season has started, they’ve gone on recess, Congress hasn’t acted, and the president hasn’t acted.”

Officials are worried that with the arrival of summer — the perfect weather for the mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus — it would be only a matter of time before local mosquitoes pick up the virus from an infected person and bite their next victim.

The Zika virus is transmitted mainly by mosquito bites, but it can also be transmitted during sex, making both women and men potential sources of introducing the virus to an unborn child.

It is now known that the Zika virus destroys the fetus’s brain tissue. In rare cases the virus can lead to Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults.

“Potentially the virus could be widespread geographically, putting women at risk,” said Dr. Richard Finkel, a pediatric neurologist and chief of the division of neurology at Nemours Children’s Hospital. “And because the impact on the fetus is so substantial, it’s a major health issue. It’s a public health issue. And it has this long-term consequences. It’s not something that they’re going to outgrow.”

In the most recent case, the Florida Department of Health said it’s working with the baby’s family to connect them with services provided through the state’s Early Steps program. The program covers kids until age 3, and then their needs — such as physical therapy and speech therapy – are handed over to the school system.

“But what do you do when the child turns 18 or 21 and has completed eligibility for school-based services and they still need support for simple bathing, dressing?” said Finkel, who regularly sees children with microcephaly that a result of genetic disorders or causes other than Zika. “These kids may never walk. They may need help with simple mobility issues. The custodial type care can become quite challenging when the kids grow up.”

Health officials continue to ask the public to empty water containers to reduce breeding opportunities for mosquitoes. They have also been warning men and women of childbearing age to avoid traveling to countries where Zika infection is widespread, and if they’re concerned that they’ve been infected to get tested.

Last week, the governor allocated more than $26 million in state funds for Zika prevention and response efforts such as mosquito control.

But efforts to get federal funding to combat the Zika virus has been mired in politics. The Senate voted down a $1.1 billion bill on Tuesday, which the House had passed last week.

“It’s not serious. Instead, it’s another attempt to use an emergency must-pass bill to try to further extremist political agendas,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., responded to the vote down by issuing a statement saying, “I realize this was not a perfect Zika bill, but getting this plan approved now is absolutely better than nothing. We need to get something done here, and we need to do it quickly.”