Situation Report

nytimes.com - by Rick Gladstone - August 9, 2016 | reuters - by Stephanie Nebehay - August 9, 2016

The United Nations called on Tuesday for an urgent ceasefire in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo, where it said two million people lacked access to clean running water, with children most at risk of disease.

Access is needed to deliver food and medical supplies and for technicians to repair electricity networks that drive water pumping stations, which were heavily damaged in attacks on civilian infrastructure last week.

"The U.N. is extremely concerned that the consequences will be dire for millions of civilians if the electricity and water networks are not immediately repaired," it said in a statement.

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Associated Press - by Danica Coto - August 5, 2016

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Health officials announced Friday that an elderly person infected with Zika has died in Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory battles what federal authorities call a silent epidemic.

The victim was a 75-year-old man who was hospitalized and died from health ailments unrelated to Zika, according to Health Secretary Ana Rius. . . .

. . . The first Zika-related death was reported in late April and involved a 70-year-old man from the San Juan metro area. He suffered internal bleeding after developing a condition in which antibodies that formed in response to a Zika infection began attacking blood platelet cells. At the time, Rius said there were three other cases of the condition known as severe thrombocytopenia and that those patients recovered.

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CLICK HERE - Zika virus: first American dies of complications linked to disease

With the growing Zika outbreak in Florida, it's a dangerous mistake to continue underestimating the virus. 

Complacency is the enemy.  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

usnews.com - by Stephen S. Morse - August 1, 2016

We've seen it coming for months. Zika has been moving with hurricane intensity throughout South America and the Caribbean, appearing for the first time in 42 countries in the Western Hemisphere in less than two years. . . .

. . . We cannot afford to keep trying to catch-up every time another infection appears. . . .

. . . Zika is the infectious disease crisis now, but in our increasingly globalized and urban world, we can expect many more to come.

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Florida governor asks CDC to activate emergency response team following increase in Zika cases

CLICK HERE - CDC - Zika Virus - Advice for people living in or traveling to Wynwood, a neighborhood in Florida

weather.com - by Eric Chaney - August 1, 2016

The CDC issued an advisory Monday that says pregnant women should not travel to a so-called Zika "transmission area" near Miami, the same day governor Rick Scott announced there are 10 new infections of the Zika virus likely transmitted by mosquitoes, bringing the total in the state to 14.

The governor called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to activate an Emergency Response Team to assist the Florida Department of Health and other partners in their investigation, sample collection, and mosquito control efforts.

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