Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[Mav]

Letter from the Directors of the CDC and NIH:

The Zika virus presents an unprecedented threat to the people of our nation, especially pregnant women. Thus far, t there have been more than 16,800 cases of Zika infection reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States and its territories, including more than 2,700 on the mainland. (That figure includes more than 100 in New Jersey.)

Laboratory tests have confirmed that 1,595 pregnant women have been infected with the virus, and tragically, 17 babies have been born in the United States with birth defects related to Zika.

...

The potential cost of a funding shortfall will be measured in human misery and even death. Every child born with microcephaly as a result of the Zika infection of the mother during pregnancy could require care that costs the family and our health-care system anywhere between $1 million and $10 million over the lifetime of the child. Every child born with microcephaly faces a difficult future, filled with intensive therapy and support. It is a price that no child — no mother, no father, no family — should have to pay, especially given that it can be avoided.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016...opini.html