Zika Virus Is Coming And We're Not Ready: US Experts

There's a vaccine against yellow fever, but none against Zika

Zika virus is going to start spreading in the United States and the country's not ready for it, experts said Tuesday.

It probably won't spread much — most areas in the U.S. don't have the right conditions for widespread transmission of the virus — but even a little is too much, the officials said, according to NBC News.

"We have nothing at the national level other than advice from the CDC and most states do not even coordinate their programs at the county level very well," said Scott Weaver, of the University of Texas Medical Branch, at a news conference at the end of a meeting of Zika experts in Atlanta.

Once mosquito season starts, the U.S. could have small, local outbreaks.

"Very likely we will," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a separate briefing at the Pan American Health Organization's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

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