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The Food and Drug Administration on Friday took steps to safeguard the nation’s blood supply from the Zika virus, calling for all blood banks to screen donations for the infection even in states where the virus is not circulating. The recommendations are an acknowledgment that sexual transmission may facilitate the spread of Zika even in areas where mosquitoes carrying the virus are not present. Officials also want to prepare for the possibility that clusters of local infection will continue to pop up in parts of the United States for years to come. (Saint Louis, 8/26)

Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the advisory was put out because "there is still much uncertainty regarding the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission." In a media conference call, he noted the “rapid expansion” of the virus, which is actively spreading in more than 50 countries, mostly in the Americas and Caribbean. The United States has documented 8,000 cases of Americans who acquired the virus abroad and 2,000 infected through local transmission. Nearly all of those in the latter group are in Puerto Rico. (Cha, 8/26)

Dr. Marks said testing of blood donations already is under way in Puerto Rico and Florida, where most of the U.S. Zika cases have occurred. The plan, he said, is to expand that testing in 11 more states over the next four weeks. They are Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina and Texas. Testing should begin in all states within 12 weeks, Dr. Marks said. “Given the very serious outcome of small-headed babies,” said Dr. Marks, “in order to prevent that from happening, we feel this step makes sense.” (Burton, 8/26)

Currently, Zika is being spread by mosquitoes in South Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as most countries in the Caribbean and Central and South America. There are a total of 2,517 cases of Zika in the U.S. states and D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 9,011 more in U.S. territories. (Neel, 8/26)

Several members of Congress, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), first urged the FDA on July 20 — before the Zika was spreading locally in Florida — to implement mandatory screening for all blood donations. “If we wait for the first confirmed locally transmitted Zika case to begin testing, we risk serious harm to the stability of our blood supply,” Doggett wrote to FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf. Implementing the additional screening will be costly, Marks acknowledged, though he declined to say how much the FDA will need to spend. (Ferris, 8/26)

The Obama administration has spent nearly all of the funding it had reallocated from Ebola to fight the Zika virus, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told lawmakers in a letter obtained by POLITICO. "Our nation's ability to mount the type of Zika response that the American people deserve sits squarely with Congress," Burwell wrote. The $374 million the administration took from efforts to fight Ebola “will be virtually exhausted by the end of the fiscal year” on Sept. 30, she said. The dire warning comes a week before lawmakers are due to return to Congress following a seven-week break. (Haberkorn, 8/27)

President Obama is urging Republicans to make funding for fighting the Zika virus their top priority once Congress comes back into session. “Every day that Republican leaders in Congress wait to do their job, every day our experts have to wait to get the resources they need — that has real-life consequences,” Obama said. “Weaker mosquito-control efforts. Longer wait times to get accurate diagnostic results. Delayed vaccines. It puts more Americans at risk. (Hensch, 8/27)

Fifteen new cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus were reported Friday in Florida, all tied to people who brought the disease into the state after getting infected elsewhere. The state Department of Health announced that the new travel-related cases included five pregnant women. The agency didn't report where the pregnant women reside or where they had traveled. (8/29)

Miami-Dade County’s aerial spraying campaign against Zika-carrying mosquitoes is scheduled to end this month, and the blitz could be one for the record books if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention records it as a success. Scant published research exists to prove aerial spraying works against the adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry Zika. Many experts in tropical diseases dismiss insecticide spraying from low-flying planes because they say the urban dwelling species may escape the killer spray by living indoors. (Kopp, 8/29)

A tropical system brewing in the Caribbean could make Florida's fight against the spread of the Zika virus even more challenging. Forecasters have pegged the tropical wave as only having a 40 percent chance of strengthening into a tropical storm over the coming days, and some models see it hitting the Gulf Coast states west of Florida. But whether it makes landfall in Florida or not, one thing is certain: the system will bring heavy rains to the Sunshine State, and that could create breeding grounds for Zika-carrying mosquitoes. (Chuck, 8/27)

While Florida Keys residents debate the use of genetically modified mosquitoes ahead of a November referendum, a new survey finds that a majority of Floridians supports the concept. And a group of Pinellas County elected officials has written to the U.S. health and human services secretary asking for emergency approval to use the GMO mosquitoes in their region. Pinellas had its first case of locally acquired Zika confirmed earlier this week.A survey released Friday by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center finds that most Floridians support the release of genetically modified mosquitoes. The phone survey was conducted between Aug. 18 and 22. (Klingener, 8/28)

Zika has a foothold in the continental United States now that mosquitoes in parts of Miami-Dade County, Fla., have infected people with the virus. Zika can cause harrowing brain damage in the developing fetus of a woman who is infected during pregnancy, so it is vital that pregnant women minimize that risk. Here’s some advice on how to do that. (Belluck, 8/26)

Now, no cases doesn't mean no one caught Zika at the Summer Games. About 80 percent of people who get infected don't know it. They don't have any symptoms. And those who do get sick often have only mild symptoms. So the vast majority of cases go unreported. But so far, it's looking like predictions from computer models were pretty much spot on: Zika wasn't a big threat in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics. (Doucleff, 8/26)

Singapore has stepped up its fight against the Zika virus after confirming 41 locally transmitted cases one day after reporting its first infection. The Ministry of Health said it will continue to screen people who had close contact with those infected. Of the 41 people who contracted the virus in Singapore, 34 have fully recovered, the ministry said, with the majority of cases occurring among foreign construction workers. (Chanjaroen and Khan, 8/28)