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Even as mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus advance northward, lawmakers in 18 states are trying to block the fetal tissue research that might reveal the keys to unlocking the disease and preventing the massive birth defects associated with it. The furor from the Planned Parenthood sting videos is driving the tide of bills, which range from outright bans on research using aborted tissue to prohibitions on tissue donations. Scientists say such laws in states like Florida, Arizona, Ohio and Indiana — along with an escalating probe of fetal tissue research by House Republicans — are becoming roadblocks to the research needed to combat Zika. (Norman, 3/27)

U.S. health officials are recommending that women wait at least two months, and men at least six, before attempting to conceive after infection with Zika, a virus linked to thousands of suspected cases of birth defects in Brazil. The new guidance, issued on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, follows prior recommendations by the agency that focused on preventing infections in women who were already pregnant. (Steenhuysen, 3/26)

The messages from the expectant mothers in Brazil resonate with desperation. “I'm thinking of doing the worst,” one woman wrote when her order for abortion medication failed to arrive. “I really need help. I can no longer eat, and I cry all the time.” The messages were sent to an international advocacy group that had been providing abortion-inducing drugs free of charge to expectant mothers who fear that the Zika virus could cause severe birth defects. Now, however, the group has temporarily suspended its operations in the country because Brazilian authorities have confiscated the drugs in the mail. Abortion is prohibited in most instances in Brazil, and the drugs are illegal. (Simmons and Rigby, 3/27)

A San Diego County woman has been diagnosed with the first confirmed case of Zika virus acquired in California, public health officials said Friday. The woman came down with the virus in February after having sex with a Zika-infected man who had just returned from a trip to Colombia, officials said. (Seipel, 3/25)