EL PASO (WBAP/KLIF News) – Health officials from Texas and Mexico are meeting in El Paso this week to discuss ways to slow down the spread of the Zika virus.
Texas Health Commissioner John Hellerstedt said Zika is carried by a different type of mosquito than the West Nile Virus carriers.
“It has a completely different ecology than the Aedes aegypti does that spreads Zika,” he said.
Hellerstedt said they’re meeting with Mexican states along the border to improve communication about how and where Zika is spreading.
“Everybody has to deal with it and the thing about these public health issues on the border is that if we win these public health battles on either side of the border everybody wins,” he said.
Hellerstedt said the talks are a necessary step to prevent wide-spread infections of any kind.
“We recognize the threat of all sorts of diseases that exist along both sides of the border,” he said.
The state has confirmed 14 cases of Zika so far this year. The virus may produce no symptoms but can cause birth defects when pregnant woman are infected.
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