Obama Calls for $1.8 Billion to Fight Zika

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President Barack Obama on Monday asked for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funds to tackle the fast-spreading Zika virus at home and abroad.

The mosquito-borne illness has surged through Latin America, prompting fears that clement spring weather could bring an explosion in cases.

The White House said money is needed to fund vaccine research, insect control programs and other "essential strategies" to combat the virus and help "ongoing preparedness efforts."

Obama's formal request to Congress is expected soon.

While not deadly, Zika has been linked in Latin America to a rapid rise in the number of children born with microcephaly -- abnormally small heads and brains.

It is believed the virus is passed from infected pregnant women to their unborn children.

There is no cure or vaccine for the virus which, in most people, causes mild symptoms. 

While Obama called for more funds, he also urged calm.

"The good news is this is not like Ebola, people don't die of Zika -- a lot of people get it and don't even know that they have it," he told television channel CBS. 

"What we now know, though, is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women or women who are thinking about getting pregnant."

"We don't know exactly what the relations there are but there is enough correlation that we have to take this very seriously."

The World Health Organization has declared a global medical emergency to combat Zika and individual countries and regions are beginning to mobilize.

Some nations have taken the extraordinary step of urging women to delay having children.

In Europe, a medicines watchdog has set up a task team to help develop drugs and vaccines.

According to the Pan-American Health Organization, 26 countries have confirmed cases, spanning 7,000 kilometers (4,400 miles) from Mexico to Paraguay.

The hardest hit country is Brazil, which hosts the Summer Olympics starting in August.

Fear of catching the virus has become a national obsession, dabbing this year's carnival extravaganza with a large dollop of Mosquito repellent.

Firms report sales of spray have increased 800 percent from December 2015-January 2016.

Pharmacies report they are starting to sell out of some repellents.

In Colombia, more than 22,600 cases of the Zika virus have been confirmed.

There, the virus has been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disease that can cause paralysis in humans.

- Spring forward -

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has so far found 50 confirmed cases of Zika among travelers returning to the United States.

In at least one instance, in Dallas, the disease may have been transmitted sexually.

But the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus is endemic across the southern and eastern United States.

"As spring and summer approach, bringing with them larger and more active mosquito populations, we must be fully prepared to mitigate and quickly address local transmission within the continental U.S., particularly in the southern United States," the White House said.

Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories in warmer areas are especially vulnerable.

Obama's funding proposal includes $250 million in aid for the cash-strapped island.