The Coming Zika Crisis

Earlier this week the World Health Organization warned that a mosquito borne viral disease known as Zika was fast spreading throughout the Americas. That includes the United States, which it will likely reach sooner rather than later.

Zika is rarely deadly, but it can cause some severe birth defects should a pregnant woman contract the disease when bit by a mosquito. Already in Brazil we are seeing a large number of these birth defects.

Zika is among a category of diseases that is called "neglected tropical diseases." And they are neglected largely because they have historically only affected the poorest people on the planet. But now, one of these diseases is fast spreading in middle income and wealthy countries and we are poised for a public health crisis.

On the line to discuss Zika and its larger public health implications is one of the world's leading experts in tropical diseases, Dr. Peter Hotez.  He is the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Me…