"It is my analysis that we're at the beginning of a really challenging new outbreak with probably substantial impacts that are not fully understood by the world as a whole, even by those who are experts in bio-medical research," said Dr. David Nabarro, a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on health issues.
Zika virus is spread mainly through the bite of a tropical mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and was first thought to cause only mild symptoms like a fever and rash, but it has recently been linked to severe birth defects including babies born with abnormally small heads and a rare neurological syndrome that can cause death or temporary paralysis.
Infectious Disease Ping
” Experts only beginning to grasp the damage from Zika virus “
Do the Olympics have their goofy mascot picked out yet. Maybe it can be named Zika.
I say that if the virus can do that to a developing baby, it is probably not wholly benign to adults, either.
Spray whole rainforests worldwide with pesticides. But, wait, some endangered flies might have hairloss. Oh noes.
The wild spread and devastation of this virus that is transmitted by mosquitoes is the result of the pseudoscience that resulted in the banning of DDT.
This is an interesting idea that should be discussed:
Kill All the Mosquitoes?!
New gene-editing technology gives scientists the ability to wipe out the carriers of malaria and the Zika virus. But should they use it?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/kill-all-mosquitos-180959069/?no-ist
Our government is to blame for every tragedy here. They knew foreign people were coming in with it and did nothing!
Like EV-D68 and incurable tuberculosis, the
GOP Congress and White Mosque want it in EVERY school
by secret Quartering.
Americans have not yet grasped the damage
to all future generations by
the negligent, self-serving GOP and the White Mosque.
Thanks for the ping.
If it gets into Africa the results could easily be akin to the Black Plague, given the birth rate and the lack of modern medical culture.
Might be time to dust off the DDT sprayers.
If they can’t support a place with tourism, maybe they should allow residents to produce something instead.
we’re doomed. again.
Think about this. Put these together.
How much money and effort do you think the govt of Venezuela is putting into anti-Zika programs in the summer of 2016? While they are having starvation food riots?
Zero.
So, not only is Zika coming, but we have reintroduced many other diseases with our wide-open borders and insane unscreened refugee programs.
If we have a financial collapse, EBT down, food riots, etc. (Venezuala X 50), how will we deal with rampant epidemics?
Anybody thinking out five-six years, to the midst of a financial collapse, with all these infectious bugs let loose?
Any brainiacs on TV talking about it?
No.
“rare neurological syndrome that can cause death or temporary paralysis.”
That may be GBS or Guillain-Barré (Ghee-yan Bah-ray) Syndrome is an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.
It’s also called:
Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
Landry’s Ascending Paralysis
GBS is characterized by the rapid onset of numbness, weakness, and often paralysis of the legs, arms, breathing muscles, and face. Paralysis is ascending, meaning that it travels up the limbs from fingers and toes towards the torso.GBS came to public attention briefly when it struck a number of people who received the 1976 swine flu vaccine. Although not in the news as much today, it continues to claim thousands of new victims each year, striking any one at any age, regardless of gender or ethnic background.
The rapid onset of weakness, frequently accompanied by abnormal sensations (numbness, tingling) that affect both sides of the body similarly, is common. Loss of reflexes, such as the knee jerk, are usually found.
http://www.gbs-cidp.org/gbs/all-about-gbs/
I got this lovely affliction in 1976 after getting a swine flu shot. I was miserable for about 2 months, and decades later, when I am really tired, my upper jawbones feel like an oral surgeon had worked on them and the lidocaine is slowly wearing off.
Flash forward to this year, a friend with Parkinson’s Disease ends up in the hospital and can’t swallow solid food. After listening his wife describe his symptoms, I asked his wife if he had a flu shot. She said no, I wrote down GBS and suggested she ask her husband’s neurologist about GBS as factor. The neurologist agreed that was the problem.
Another friend had a stroke and besides the normal stroke problems she couldn’t swallow. I informed her family and about our mutual friend, and they asked the doctors, and they kept her on a liquid diet for a month.
Both are coming around. We have had one case of Zika Virus diagnosed in our county, and the biggest outpatient lab does not test for the virus.