Posted on 09/28/2016 11:21:45 AM PDT by Innovative
Florida health officials who have been testing thousands of residents for Zika virus said Wednesday they found another infection: dengue virus.
The health department said it confirmed a case of locally acquired dengue virus, the second this year in the state and the first in Miami.
Dengue is a close relative of Zika and it is spread by the same mosquitoes. Health experts say anywhere you find dengue, you are likely to find Zika.
It's so closely related that tests often mix up the two viruses, as well as a third relative: chikungunya. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designed two tests that can diagnose Zika separately: one that finds Zika alone, and another that can differentiate Zika, dengue and chikungunya.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Great, let’s continue importing 3rd world populations and their 3rd world diseases. Diversity is our strength
Thanks, Baraq!
Miami's Zika Search Turns Up Another Virus: Dengue !
(Native Developed)
dengue fever
chikungunya
Zika
" At this point , What difference does it make ? "
Yepper, and when I was sailing the Keys last time, tiger mosquitoes were getting to me.
Obama has had some success making us both Africa and Latin America. For all the wrong reasons.
“chikungunya”
Chicken Gumbo?
I’d wager there are all sorts of unsavory things lurking in the moist crevices of Miami.
Obama - Making America Sick Again.
The things that they will do to scare people away from the polling places know no bounds...what’s next Ebola infected mosquitos?
Of the viruses listed, I think dengue is definitely the most worrisome.
Chickungunya is a miserable disease to catch, but once you get over it, you are probably immune for life.
Zika is a fairly mild disease, although associated with a low fatality rate. I remain unconvinced of a causative relationship between Zika and microcephaly. Not that it is impossible for a virus to cause birth defects, but because the science showing a “smoking gun” just is not there.
There are five strains of dengue. One of these is newly identified and little is known about it. If someone catches any of the other four strains, they not only are miserable while sick, but the immunity they develop actually makes them *more* susceptible to serious, life-threatening consequences if they should ever get sick with a different strain. I do not know if the newly discovered fifth strain contributes to this dynamic.
The company Sanofi-Pasteur has been working on a vaccine for years. While there is a definite need for a vaccine, I think that the problem with immunity to one strain increasing the risk of death from another strain makes a vaccine technically quite challenging. Unless a vaccine can induce equal levels of immunity to all four strains at once, then vaccinating people against it can, in theory, make them more likely to die from whichever strain they did not develop adequate immunity to. And making people *more* likely to die of a disease rather defeats the whole purpose of vaccination. Until Sanofi can adequately address this concern, I think that getting the vaccine licensed is going to be a challenge.
Bigg Red, I am pinging you since I think you may find this informative. :)
Like they’ve contained every other 3rd world horror?
Florida get stuff first... but it will be passed on...
I have lived through dengue. It was rough. And, it is the disease that keeps on giving. One month after dengue the skin on my hands and feet started peeling. The entire process took about two months. Then, my hair started falling out. For the next six months to a year, I was more susceptible to headaches, depression, and, what I call, “dengue brain.”
I would wish it on my worst enemies. But I’m vindictive like that.
That sounds like a horrible experience. I sincerely hope you never encounter any of the other strains of dengue.
I try to remember to use bug repellent. But I have discovered that they will bite through my clothing, so I have to remember to spray that, too. I hate being a mosquito magnet.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and informatime comments. I always learn so much from your posts. And thanks for the ping.
MaY God bless and keep you.
Thank you for your informed comments to post.
I may not always agree with you, but I generally learn something new from each of your posts.
So, as I understand it, currently there is no vaccine nor cure for dengue .. correct ?
Are you aware of any other companies, other than Sanofi-Pasteur, working on Dengue since it has transnational infection ?
Ping !
You are most welcome. As taxpayers, you all footed the bill for me to get a PhD; this is how I pay you back for my wonderful education!
Sanofi has been pushing hard to get its vaccine licensed. Of course, their motives in doing so contain some element of opportunism, since the spread of dengue into the US and Europe creates a level of concern about dengue that did not previously exist. (Diseases that only affect people in distant third world countries receive scant attention and thus very little research funding.)
However, Sanofi is not the only company to develop a vaccine. Takeda, a Japanese company, also has a vaccine candidate which they are also testing in phase 3 trials. The US government (specifically, the NIH and the Army) has developed a couple of vaccine candidates which are being tested in collaboration with Merck and GSK. There are probably others at all stages of development.
Every single one of these vaccines has the same issues that the Sanofi vaccine has, which is that there is a risk of the vaccine causing unequal levels of immunity against dengue. In turn, this could cause the patient to be *more* susceptible to very serious and potentially life-threatening disease if they catch one of the strains that they did not become sufficiently immune to.
Please note that the increased susceptibility of a patient to severe disease from catching a second strain of dengue is well documented in the medical literature. The hypothesis that this dynamic might operate in vaccinated patients is just that, a hypothesis—but is a concern that any developer of dengue vaccine must answer before the FDA (or foreign regulators) will approve the vaccine for market.
In reports that I have read, the vaccines have not induced equal levels of immunity against all four strains; typically, fewer than half of the study participants become sufficiently immune to at least one strain. So the pharmaceutical companies have some work to do to secure that FDA approval.
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