THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

It was in Puerto Rico, but thanks to the Republicans in Congress it will probably spread across a South region little prepared for it.

The first officially reported death in the United States from Zika-related complications, a 70-year-old man in Puerto Rico, intensifies a partisan battle on Capitol Hill over $1.9 billion in emergency funds blocked for two months by Republicans.

With Florida claiming the highest number of cases of the deadly virus, lawmakers from the Sunshine State pushed GOP leaders to take up the appropriations supplemental bill that President Barrack Obama sent to Congress two months ago.

“The death of an American citizen should serve as a wake-up call to all those in Congress who continue to block our efforts to stop the spread of this virus,” Sen. Bill Nelson said Friday. “While this may be the first Zika-related death in our country, it won’t be the last if Congress does not start taking this virus seriously.”

Nelson filed legislation last month to provide the $1.9 billion in emergency funds for Zika research and funding, most of which would go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the Zika virus is spread primarily by two types of mosquitoes, Wasserman Schultz cited evidence that it can also be sexually transmitted.

Wasserman Schultz earlier this week introduced legislation to provide the $1.9 billion. She was joined by Rep. Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat.

Puerto Rico has 599 cases of Zika, according to CDC data, far more than any other state or territory. Florida has 93 cases and New York has 77, which combined represents 40 percent of all cases nationwide.

Miami-Dade County has 39 Zika cases, followed by Broward with 15.

The biggest health threat from Zika is to pregnant women and their newborn children.

One of the most serious effects of the virus is microcephaly, which causes babies’ heads to be much smaller than normal. Zika can also cause brain damage, seizures, developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, feeding problems, hearing loss and vision problems in infants.

Female Democratic senators spoke out forcefully last week in a prolonged partisan fight over the emergency Zika funding on the Senate floor, among them Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Patty Murray of Washington state.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the failed 2016 GOP White House candidate, broke with other GOP senators in a passionate plea for the emergency funds.

When Zika first came to these shore there was only one type of mosquito with limited range in the US carrying the disease. Now it is found in another type with much greater range across the country. And, in a bit of Nature's irony, it can also be spread with sex. But thanks to our stalwart Republican Congress we need not fear throwing away good money on health prevention measures nor worry about a vaccine either.