US health officials have admitted the Zika virus is potentially much worse than imagined, and could impact more states than originally predicted.
Dr Anne Schuchat of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the virus ‘scarier than we initially thought.’
"Most of what we’ve learned is not reassuring," Dr Schuchat said during a briefing at the White House.
President Obama has sought funding of $1.9 billion to fight the disease and the administration said it would use $589 million in funds left over from the Ebola outbreak for the time being.
However that ‘is not enough for us to get the job done,’ said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.
"We really don’t have what we need. When the President asked for $1.9 billion, we needed $1.9 billion," Dr Fauci added.
Right now the CDC is focusing on halting the spread in Puerto Rico.
"We believe there could be hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika virus in Puerto Rico and perhaps hundreds of affected babies," Dr Schuchat said.
There is thought to be more than 60 confirmed cases of Zika infection in pregnant women in the continental US, and Dr Schuchat said about 30 states potentially have the Zika carrying aedes aegypti mosquito present.
