Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to join my colleagues because I share their very real concerns about the impact of the Zika virus on families in New Hampshire--also not a tropical State--the impact on people across the country here in the United States, and also on people around the world. As has been pointed out, we have seen reports in regions with active mosquito-borne transmission of the virus, places such as Brazil, where they are about to host the Olympics. People will be traveling there from all over the United States, from all over the world. We have seen those stories of women who have had children with severe birth defects, with microcephaly, as a result of their exposure and contracting the virus during pregnancy. We have also seen impacts on adults. The connection that seems to be there, and I think we are still waiting on definitive research, but the connection in adults between Guillain-Barre syndrome and the Zika virus is also very real. While fortunately in America in most cases that can be treated, the reality is, in a lot of places around the world and for some people, it causes severe paralysis and sometimes even death. So this is not just something that affects pregnant women, but there are also concerns about who else might be affected by this virus.…”