CDC: More money needed to fight Zika

By Robert King, Robert King

Published June 17, 2016

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the lack of new funding from Congress is making it harder to fight the Zika virus.

"We know there are many things we cannot do without supplemental appropriations," CDC Director Tom Frieden during a briefing before Florida lawmakers on Wednesday.

Florida is among the states that could be hit hard by the virus, experts have said. Frieden also warned that, "mosquito season is heating up, Zika is heating up."

So far, the Zika virus isn't spread via mosquito bites, the primary mode of transmission, in the continental United States. However, Frieden said it is possible that doctors may not be aware of the virus being spread via mosquitoes.