Baby with Zika-linked birth defect dies in Texas
Liz Szabo, USA TODAY 1:28 p.m. EDT August 9, 2016
The Zika virus has claimed the life of a Texas baby, health officials reported Tuesday.
The baby, whose mother had traveled to Latin America during her pregnancy, died shortly after birth. The infant was born with microcephaly, a condition in which a baby's head is abnormally small and, in most cases, brain development is incomplete.
The baby was born in Harris County, which includes Houston. It's the first Zika-related death in Texas.
Zika-related brain damage in fetuses "is one of the saddest congenital birth outcomes imaginable," said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "The case highlights that ZIka is not just producing babies with small heads. . . .We should expect many similar deaths, and also stillbirths."
Fifteen babies in the U.S. have been born with Zika-related birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seven women have lost pregnancies due to Zika. Those numbers could grow. Nearly 1,000 pregnant women in the continental U.S. and territories have been infected with Zika. ... "
Meanwhile the GOP denies science, refuses to bring the Zika bill to a vote, and tries to keep Texas women from getting health care at all.
It is a travesty that they (the leadership in both houses) won't even have a vote on the funding for an ever present public health crisis. I guess they think if you ignore it the problem will disappear.
“If Hillary's friends on the Hill get to choose Zika funding, nothing you can do, folks,” Mr. Trump said, as the crowd began to boo. He quickly added: “Although the Pro-Virus people — maybe there is, I don’t know.”
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
And rubato, FWIW, I did say the leadership of both houses; since this is selected by the majority party in each, I think it should be clear that I was not referring to both parties.
