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Wouldn’t it be easier to respond to the next public health crisis if the federal government didn’t have to wait for Congress? That’s the lesson that top lawmakers have learned from the seemingly endless standoff over emergency funds for the Zika virus. Now, there’s a reasonable chance that the next health spending bill will include a reserve fund that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can use the next time there’s an infectious disease crisis. (Nather, 8/15)

Now that Zika is being transmitted by mosquitoes in Miami, health and insect-control workers across the country are intensifying preparations for possible local outbreaks of their own. Health departments are ramping up early-warning mechanisms, expanding mosquito-control programs and launching public-awareness campaigns. (McWhirter and Calfas, 8/12)

Some pesticide being used to kill mosquitoes and fight the spread of Zika in Miami-Dade County is also harmful to honey bees, birds, some fish and people, according to the Miami Herald. The insecticide naled has been approved for use in the United States since 1959 but is banned by the European Union, the newspaper reports. Miami-Dade mosquito control officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicate the risks are minimal and the pesticide is sprayed in small concentrations, with little of it actually reaching the ground, according to the newspaper. (8/14)

It’s not the fog of war, but it’s a war on bugs. And sometimes it’s fought with, well, fog. Recent efforts to halt the spread of the Zika virus in Florida bring to mind other times authorities have unleashed billowing clouds to combat pests. (Fernandez, 8/15)

One by one, the women paraded into the research center in Midtown Manhattan. There were about 40 of them, pregnant or of reproductive age, brought together by New York City health officials for focus-group sessions in English and Spanish.They were there to discuss the Zika virus. But not the mosquitoes known to carry it.They were there to talk about sex. (Santora and Schmidt, 8/12)

With no vaccine or treatment for Zika, Brazil’s government has few options besides sending teams to every infested region to hunt down and kill the insects that carry the virus, Aedes aegypti. Can the mosquito be defeated? (Zavis, 8/14)

A Campbell County woman caught the Zika virus while traveling outside the country, and after her return started showing symptoms like fever, rash and joint paint. Department of Health spokeswoman Kim Deti says Wyoming was one of the last states to report a case. The virus spreads through a certain type of mosquito, but Deti says those mosquitos cannot survive in Wyoming. (Edwards, 8/12)