Posted on 01/28/2016 1:57:24 PM PST by Citizen Zed
Carolina, who lives on the vertiginous hills of a Caracas slum, says she fell pregnant with her third child last year because birth control pills went scarce.
When the mosquito-borne virus Zika - linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil - started to spread through the Americas the homemaker, now seven months pregnant, set out to protect herself.
But repellent is also running short in crisis-hit Venezuela. And as water cuts are frequent in the slums, people keep reserve jars in store at home, a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes.
"I keep the doors closed. I can't do much more," said Carolina, 30, as she waited in line for a check-up at a state-run maternity center in southern Caracas.
Zika is the latest worry for pregnant Venezuelans, who already search high and low for scarce folic acids, medical equipment and medicines, and even diapers to have in stock for when they give birth.
Around 4,700 cases of potential Zika infection have been reported in the country, Venezuela's Health Minister Luisana Melo told state television on Thursday in the first official estimate, vowing fumigation efforts and training for medical personnel.
It was unclear how many pregnant women have been infected with the virus.
Many doctors and health activists worry that the country will be ill-equipped to fight the virus as it grapples with economic crisis and constant shortages of consumer goods and medicines. With no vaccine or cure for the virus, much of the fight against the outbreak is going to depend on protecting people from mosquito bites and reducing the mosquito population.
"We're exposed like no other country in Latin America for this to be a pandemic," said Huniades Urbina, president of the Venezuelan Paediatrics Society, who is critical of the leftist government of Nicolas Maduro.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
So far, the only thing I've read is that bats would miss mosquitoes as a food source. I'm not quite sure what else eats them.
The effects of the virus are severe on the unborn. The main birth defect caused by the virus is microcephaly - children being born with significantly smaller heads and brains. These children will need life long care.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, this would sound very much like something cooked up in a government lab to ensure a completely dependent population. Where has this virus been up to now?
The virus has been out there and identified since the 1940s. It doesn’t inevitably cause microcephaly and in fact the connection is not proven. Any virus in early pregnancy will cause miscarriages or birth defects. Doctors know when the mother got the virus based on the type of defect of the newborn, because it indicates the stage of development.
Want to get rid of Zika? Get rid of the Aedes mosquito, which is also the carrier of yellow fever and dengue fever. Forget Rachel Carson, who didn’t know what she was talking about, and use DDT.
Oh, stop it! Using logic is just so mean!
Dragonflies.
Bats are extremely important pollinators. Using DDT to kill mosquitoes might or might not (depending on what other small insects are available) be disastrous for a local bat population.
Organic soy oil and catnip can be used on bare skin. Soy oil is reputed to be just as effective as DEET.
A few drops of ordinary veggie oil will spread across a water barrel in a light film and create a safe barrier that inhibits egg laying and suffocates mosquito larvae. Draw water from a bottom tap. Use fresh oil with each fresh barrel.
Oil derived from the peppercorn of the very drought tolerant Brazilian pepper tree is a very effective mosquito larvacide and can be broadcast over large areas.
Marigolds, lantana, basil, thyme and lavender are also drought tolerant. Placed near windows and doors, their smell will repel mosquitos.
my one question about Zika is, is livestock at risk or is this virus human-specific?
You know, that honestly crossed my mind, too. What better way to slow down the birth rate than to create a situation where having a baby could result in hideous deformities.
I also read that many places, mostly in South America, where abortion is currently illegal, were considering allowing it due to Zika, and of course the libs are applauding.
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