CDC Spent $2.5 Million in August to Increase Zika Testing Capabilities

Credit: WILL & DENI MCINTYRE/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention purchased about $2.5 million in supplies and equipment intended to increase its ability to test for the Zika virus in the month of August.

The CDC publicly announced the spending figure earlier this week, saying that the purchases were made to “help to ensure that states can meet the growing demand for testing and rapid identification of Zika infection.” As of September 8th, 732 pregnant women had shown some laboratory evidence of possible Zika infection in the United States and Washington, D.C.

That figure does not include 1,156 pregnant women who exhibited laboratory signs of the virus in U.S. territories, with many of those coming from Puerto Rico.

Currently, the CDC says, “relatively few labs in the U.S. are certified to test for Zika.” Because of that, many samples have to be sent to a local health department lab for testing, and if that local department doesn’t test for Zika, the sample is then sent to the CDC. Getting a result back from the CDC could take between two and four weeks.

For now, the CDC says it has sent materials to expand lab capacity to use the CDC-developed Zika test, with laboratories in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and nine Department of Defense labs receiving those materials. Equipment for a second Zika test was sent to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 16 DOD labs. All but two states have completed the process necessary to utilize that test, the CDC adds.

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