"New gene-editing technology gives scientists the ability to wipe out the carriers of malaria and the Zika virus. But should they use it?"
To catch Zika you either have to be bitten by an infected mosquito or have unprotected sex with an infected human. The mosquitoes that can become infected by Zika are already here in significant numbers. All they have to do is bite an infected human and then spread it among the mosquito population. At this point it is probably easier to protect mosquitoes from infected humans than to kill all mosquitoes that could potentially be infected. Therefore don’t visit countries where Zika is common, if you do, wear repellent at all times, and wear it when you come home for several months and use protection when you have sex. Zika can infect the Aedes aegypti mosquito, Aedes albopictus, and the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Here is a scary link with the 2016 map of range of these mosquitoes in the US which is much greater than previously recognized. The eastern half of the US is pretty much covered.
http://www.cdc.gov/zika/vector/range.html
Simplest way to reduce mosquitoes is to empty all standing water containers at least twice weekly. This includes the saucers under plant pots. Remove old tires, empty and recycle cans, etc. Breading sterile mosquitoes as was done in the screw worm situation seems worth a try. More research is needed on whether there may be other factors that increase the microcephaly rate, like malnutrition, pesticide or agricultural poisons, etc. Personally if I were pregnant, I would want a high nutrition and supplement diet including extra vitamin C 4 times a day. Also significant is choline which is essential in brain formation. See details below. Reading this article I doubt the poor women of NE Brazil had much choline in their diets.
http://www.berkeleywellness.com/supplements/vitamins/article/should-you-boost-your-choline
"New gene-editing technology gives scientists the ability to wipe out the carriers of malaria and the Zika virus. But should they use it?"
Thanks glee’.
Choline seems a double-edged sword. Good for neural development and in excess bad for CV.
this time last year (and the entire year before) an ebola pandemic seemed imminent. Since then a vaccine has been developed, with billions of dollars allocated to do so and presumably billions more for stockpiles.
The British dire-sounding warning against travel to Florida comes barely a week after two major announcements: that The U of Texas has cloned the zika virus and can produce large quantities, and, that Inovio biotech has concluded successful monkey trials with their vaccine, one of over a dozen companies currently working on zika. We’re told to expect a test vaccine next year from Oxford’s Jenner Institute, and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases has a vaccine that could be applicable to zika. From SARS to half a dozen flu varieties, from west nile to ebola to zika, (and, this month, Syrian sand fleas) it seems we’ve had a Disease Of The Year for a decade now. Is this all just coincidence or is the pharm panic tail wagging the public dog again to hype a drug release at an inflated price, knowing governments will spend billions on stockpiles?
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/17/health/zika-virus-clone-scientist/index.html
http://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/cloning-the-zika-virus-a-step-towards-the-cure-160186-1.htm
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/17/inovio-pharmaceuticals-zika-vaccine-takes-a-big-st.aspx
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/m/microcephaly/stats-country.htm