Zika virus a concern for poor urban areas along Gulf Coast

Hotez and other tropical disease specialists are most concerned about impoverished urban areas along the Gulf Coast, where the numbers of the mosquito that spreads Zika are expected to spike.

Public health officials have spent months preparing for what they are certain will be at least some locally transmitted cases.

A scaled-back $1.1 billion Republican-drafted measure was blocked in the Senate on Tuesday by Democrats opposed to its denial of new funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico, where there already are more than 1,800 locally acquired cases, and to easing rules on pesticide spraying.

In Texas, major cities have sophisticated mosquito screening programs and years of dealing with other mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue and West Nile virus.

The state health department has spent more than $400,000 since the start of the year to expand its lab capacity and to buy mosquito traps.

Mosquito traps are set out on lawns and inside sewers in more than 250 designated areas.

[...] far, no mosquitoes have tested positive for Zika.

The state says it's better prepared to coordinate with doctors, county health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.