Prevention is better than cure—this age-old adage has apparently not been heeded by some states in America as the country faces the possibility of multiple outbreaks of the dangerous Zika virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said once the mosquito season starts, the U.S. will "very likely" have small, local outbreaks of this virus that has already caused birth defects to thousands of babies in South America.
In a report by NBC News, Fauci explained that such outbreaks are likely since hundreds of travelers from South American countries have already brought the Zika virus with them into the U.S.
He said two types of mosquitoes that can carry the virus—Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus—breed in the U.S.
"In the U.S., the range of Aedes albopictus occupies more states than Aedes aegypti," Fauci told NBC News. He said this is the reason why the Zika virus outbreaks in the country will just be limited to small ones.
Nevertheless, that's already bad news for Americans. The worse news: Most states seem ill prepared to fight a possible Zika virus outbreak.
Scott Weaver of the University of Texas Medical Branch said the main problem is that states are facing the threat of the Zika virus individually instead of collectively.
"One of the problems in the United States is that we have a patchwork of mosquito control programmes that are generally run at the county level," Weaver told NBC News.
"We have nothing at the national level other than advice from the CDC, and most states do not even coordinate their programmes at the county level very well. Some very poor communities have virtually nothing available [while] some wealthy counties have very sophisticated programmes," he added.
