With the first locally transmitted cases of Zika virus coming to light in Florida recently, a top expert on disease control said it’s likely the United States will see further local cases going forward--but that it’s highly unlikely the Zika situation will ever get as bad in the mainland U.S. as it has in Brazil or Puerto Rico.
“We definitely don’t take this lightly: this is something we always anticipated and prepared for the worst,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “But we do not feel this is going to turn into that broadly disseminated situation that we’ve seen in Brazil or that we’re seeing in Puerto Rico.”
