As warmer weather approaches and mosquito seasons take flight, health professionals are warning that a Zika outbreak in the Rio Grande Valley at the southernmost tip on the Texas border with Mexico is just a matter of time. The area, home to 1.3 million people, many living in poverty, has many houses without sufficient air-conditioning and window screens.“You have a lot of these families who don’t even have money to get rid of their garbage,” Patricia Pena, who works
with the community nonprofit La Frontera Ministries to educate locals on the virus, told the Guardian newspaper. “And their houses are infested with all kinds of creatures, including mosquitoes.” Joseph McCormick, regional dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health, also expressed concern that the disease is “going to hit the poorest people.” The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is currently urging pregnant woman and symptomatic individuals in the lower Rio Grande Valley to promptly get tested. READ MORE
