Valley vector and health officials need U.S. funds for Zika fight

Rep. Jim Costa joined Valley mosquito control and health officials this week to talk about strategies for fighting Zika and the need for money to keep the efforts going.

The Obama administration has asked for $1.9 billion in emergency supplemental funding for development of a Zika vaccine, but the request has become tangled in politics, Costa said during a gathering in Clovis on Tuesday.

Instead, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell has “repurposed” about $80 million for Zika research from other agencies, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is enmeshed in its own battle against opioid addiction.

Some of the transferred money has trickled down to the county level, but central San Joaquin Valley vector and health officials told Costa it’s too little.

“We don’t have the funds to go out there and implement a complete eradication effort,” said Steve Mulligan, manager of the Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District that covers Clovis.

Last week, Merced County health officials confirmed a third case of Zika virus.

The three residents all became ill and experienced mild symptoms after visiting countries where Zika transmissions are active, according to county officials. All three have received treatment and recovered, authorities said.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can carry the Zika virus, has been found in the San Joaquin Valley for several years.

So far, no one in the Valley or in California has been bitten by a locally infected mosquito, but health officials are concerned about the potential for the virus to spread from people who are infected during travel and return home and are bitten by mosquitoes here. The infection can cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect, and has been associated with neurological problems in adults.

Among other Valley counties, Stanislaus and Fresno each have had a case of travel-associated Zika, and Tulare has had two infections acquired during travel outside the United States. California has had 153 travel-associated infections as of Friday. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is widespread in portions of southern Mexico and in Central and South American countries that are travel destinations for many Valley residents.

The Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District has been waging war against the Aedes aegypti mosquito for the past three years, and this year has been releasing male mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, a bacterium that results in mated female mosquitoes laying eggs that do not hatch.

The experimental program in a southeast Clovis neighborhood has not been funded by the federal government. It’s a cooperation between the district, the University of Kentucky, MosquitoMate Inc., and the University of California Mosquito Research Laboratory in Parlier.

The last batch of bacteria-tainted male mosquitoes will be released in September, and it will be a couple more months before researchers know if they have reduced the biting mosquito population.

The research needs to continue, said Anthony Cornel, an entomologist at the UC Mosquito Research Laboratory.

“We must do what we can to reduce their numbers as quickly as possible.”

Much remains to be learned about the Aedes aegypti mosquito, he said, including why the tropical insect has flourished in this hotter and harsher environment, and why it has become resistant to most insecticides.

“Funding is absolutely critical for us to investigate and understand the biology of this mosquito,” he added.

And Mulligan said he needs money for more surveillance work to find out just how widespread Aedes aegypti has become in the Valley.

“We’re really going to need to have ongoing funding for research,” he said.

Money for health education and prevention also is stretched. California got $409,000 in federal money to spread among 10 county public health departments.

“It’s simply not enough,” said Van Do-Reynoso, public health director for Madera County.

Costa told the vector control and health officials he understands their frustration.

“Clearly, we need to have a long-term plan in place,” he said. “This is a health emergency and we should treat it as such.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Valley vector and health officials need U.S. funds for Zika fight."