Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that her daughter Chelsea was "the first one" to say the Zika virus was a serious health issue and that Chelsea’s advice prompted her to send aides on a "fact-finding mission" to Puerto Rico to learn more about it.
The Democratic presidential nominee added she did not know about Zika until Chelsea, who had been "following the data," warned her about its dangers to pregnant women.
"I first learned about Zika last December," Clinton said in Miami. "My daughter, who has a PhD in public health, was also pregnant at the same time, and she’s the first one who said this is a serious problem, following the data from Brazil and South America, and she said we need to get ahead of this disease, because it’s particularly dangerous for pregnant women and their children."
"That’s why, after hearing this from my daughter, I sent two of my close aides on a fact-finding mission to Puerto Rico, where more cases had developed, and as we know, the government there is under so much financial pressure," Clinton added. "How are they going to deal with the challenge of Zika? I wanted to learn more and figure out what we could to help Puerto Rico and what we could do more generally across our country."
Zika, a virus acquired through mosquito bites that pregnant women can pass along to their babies and give birth defects, has no cure at this point. Clinton’s tour of a health center in Miami on Tuesday mainly focused on attempts to contain Zika and raise awareness about how to avoid it. The outbreak around Miami has affected more than 20 people, with four more cases announced this week.