Obama administration is rapidly running out of money to fight Zika

August 3, 2016 at 5:16 p.m. EDT

An Aedes Aegypti mosquito photographed in January on human skin in a lab of the International Training and Medical Research Training Center in Cali, Colombia. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

Money set aside to fight the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus is running low, and some funds could run out by the end of August, according to a letter to House Democrats from Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services shifted $374 million from other programs to fight Zika in the U.S., with $222 million allocated to the Centers for Disease Control. The funds have rapidly been depleted during the summer mosquito season. The National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority are both expected to run out of funds by the end of the month, and other funds will be depleted by the end of the year, Burwell said.