ZIKA VIRUS 'SCARIER THAN WE FIRST THOUGHT,' WARN U.S. HEALTH OFFICIALS

Dr. Anthony Fauci (R), director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director for Centers of Disease Control Prevention, speak about the Zika virus at the White House, Washington, April 11, 2016.KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS

Top health officials expressed heightened concern on Monday about the threat posed to the United States by the Zika virus, saying the mosquito that spreads it is now present in about 30 states and hundreds of thousands of infections could appear in Puerto Rico.

At a White House briefing, they stepped up pressure on the Republican-led Congress to pass approximately $1.9 billion in emergency funding for Zika preparedness that the Obama administration requested in February.

"Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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