"The nation’s top health officials on Monday laid out their plans for spending $1.1 billion in newly appropriated federal funds to combat the threat posed by the Zika virus.

At the same time, they vented frustration at Congress for taking so long to make the money available as the virus spread to more than 25,000 people in U.S. states and territories, including 3,600 on the mainland.

'We’ll move the money as fast as government procedures allow,' said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Much of the funding would be spent over the next three months, he added.

To date, as many as 2,300 pregnant women have contracted the virus during their pregnancies, the officials said. And 22 babies in the United States and its territories have been born with microcephaly and other birth defects after they were exposed during gestation to Zika."

Melissa Healy reports for the Los Angeles Times October 3, 2016. [2]