Monday [April 11, 2016], top U.S. health officials expressed their growing concerns with the outbreak of the Zika virus, an epidemic that began to dominate headlines late last year.


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It was at a White House briefing that they urged Congress to pass the nearly $2 billion in emergency funding for Zika combat that the Obama administration requested in back in February of this year.

“Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a little scarier than we initially thought,” says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s principal deputy director, Dr. Anne Schuchat.

Joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, the pair informed the public of what’s been discovered in the last two weeks, stating that the disease, linked to microcephaly, is now further connected to premature birth, eye problems and other neurological conditions in babies born carried by mothers who were infected while pregnant.

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Once a concern to those exposed to the virus during the first trimester, Schuchat and Fauci report that the Zika virus can be pose a threat to newborn health throughout entire duration of a pregnancy.

 “The more and more we learn, the more you get concerned about the scope of what this virus is doing,” Fauci said.

Worry also grows as the mosquito known to carry the virus is now seen in 30 states compared to the initial estimate of 12. The video below shows the growing reach of the Zika outbreak within the United States.