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Genetically modified mosquitoes have been released for the first time in the United States as part of an experiment to combat insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever, yellow fever, and the Zika virus. UK-based biotechnology firm Oxitec, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said it released the mosquitoes in six locations in Monroe County’s Florida Keys: two on Cudjoe Key, one on Ramrod Key, and three on Vaca Key. It’s part of an effort to help tackle a disease-transmitting invasive mosquito population—the Aedes aegypti mosquito species—that’s responsible for “virtually all mosquito-borne diseases transmitted to humans,” according...

"We take a virus, learn how it works and then we leverage it," said Dr. Michael Diamond, a professor of molecular microbiology, pathology and immunology. "Let's take advantage of what it's good at, use it to eradicate cells we don't want. Take viruses that would normally do some damage and make them do some good." Researcher Zhe Zhu thought that glioblastoma stem cells, which stubbornly resist chemotherapy and radiation to regrow in most patients, looked a lot like the stem cells in a fast growing fetal brain. Since the Zika virus kills those fetal cells, maybe it would do the...

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...

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Florida health officials have confirmed the first case of locally acquired Dengue fever in Miami-Dade County. The infection is primarily spread through bites of infected mosquitoes. The person infected with the virus has already received medical treatment and is expected to make a full recovery. Health officials are investigating close contacts around the person to make sure more people are not infected. Miami-Dade Mosquito Control says they are conducting aggressive mosquito control efforts in the area of concern. Dengue fever can present itself as a flu-like illness with muscle aches, pain, fever and sometimes a rash. The...

The newest statistics were released a day after the U.S. surgeon general visited Puerto Rico and said he expected 25 percent of people on the island will be infected by Zika by year's end.

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. - The Florida Department of Health confirms the first Zika-related microcephaly birth in Florida. The birth mother is a Haitian national who came to Florida to give birth. She was infected with Zika in Haiti. Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip are participating in a Zika roundtable discussion in Palm Beach County Tuesday morning to discuss the issue. There have previously been two other Zika-related microcephaly births in the United States, one in Hawaii and one in New Jersey, according to a DOH representative. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the...

President Barack Obama sought to reassure millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally that he has no plans to deport them, while acknowledging that the Supreme Court’s deadlock Thursday marks the end of the road for his push to reform the U.S. immigration system. Though Obama predicted an immigration overhaul is inevitable, he conceded it won’t happen while he’s president due to opposition from the current Congress. Working to lay the groundwork for the next president to pick up the effort, he cast the election in November as a referendum on how the country would treat its immigrants. “We’re going...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Even though the explosive spread of the Zika virus has been met with a new level of international response, thanks to lessons learned from the Ebola crisis, experts warn they are only beginning to grasp the damage the mosquito-borne virus can do. Doctors speaking at a U.N. meeting on Global Health Crises said Monday that the Zika virus has already affected 60 countries on four continents, and a major outbreak on the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde suggests the disease is now poised to enter continental Africa. Zika has already become epidemic in Latin...

About 1.1% of blood donors in Puerto Rico are testing positive for the Zika virus. The blood screening suggests that about 25% of the island’s population will catch Zika this year. The Zika virus is spreading “rapidly” in Puerto Rico and now likely afflicts 2% of the island’s population with active infections, public health officials reported on Friday, based on tests of blood donors. At current infection rates, one-quarter of the island’s 3.5 million people will eventually acquire the mosquito-borne illness, U.S. CDC officials said. Current estimates are that 1% to 13% of babies born to women infected with Zika...

Last week, the Senate passed legislation to address and prevent the spread of the Zika virus. However, the Senate failed to pay for it, and instead approved a $1.1 billion “emergency” spending supplemental bill that is not subject to the budgetary caps that were agreed to last year. (Snip) In March, President Obama gave the United Nations $500 million out of an account under bilateral economic assistance to fund the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund. Congress refused to allocate funding for the U.N. Climate Change Fund last year, so the president used this account designated for international infectious diseases to pay...

Members of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) gathered on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to request the help of Congress in combatting the Zika-carrying Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, particularly urging Congress to ease the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation of insecticides and products being developed to kill the mosquitoes. Karl Malamud-Roam, Public Health Pesticides Program Manager at Rutgers University, said at the “Mosquito Control to Minimize Zika Virus Risk” event that the tools in place to confront the Aedes breed of Zika-carrying mosquitoes were “okay, we will do a good job with the tools we have, they’re good...

It's hysteria, Carlos Beltran. Pure hysteria. Puerto Rico was thrown out of the game before it even entered the stadium It’s a common theme of mine that the American spirit is growing steadily weaker. One way in which we see that is the propensity to become hysterical at the least provocation, the proverbial elephant afraid of the mouse. Witness the ongoing hysteria over the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The latest victim is the impoverished U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has struck out with Major League Baseball. A two-game series scheduled for the territory is being moved to Miami. Why? The...

Three new cases of the Zika virus were confirmed in Florida today, bringing total there to 99, state health officials say. The new cases were reported in Martin and Palm Beach counties, and there was also one case of a pregnant woman. The state’s health department does not stipulate the county in the case of pregnant women. State health officials also extended its Declaration of Public Health Emergency to include Martin County. Of the cases reported in Florida, three people are still exhibiting symptoms. Symptoms include rash, fever and joint pain. Symptoms of the virus last between seven to 10...

This Aedes Aegypti mosquito photographed on human skin in a lab of the International Training and Medical Research Training Center (CIDEIM) on Jan. 25 in Cali, Colombia. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images) By Nick Miroff April 29 at 10:37 AM For the first time in the Western Hemisphere, researchers have detected the Zika virus in Aedes albopictus, the mosquito species known as the “Asian tiger,” a finding that increases the number of U.S. states potentially at risk for transmission of the disease. During the summer months when U.S. mosquito populations are at their peak, albopictus are more ubiquitous than the Aedes aegypti...

Zika test gets emergency approval by FDAAgency recommends testing for anyone with Zika infection symptoms(CNN) —The first commercial test for Zika virus has received emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the test's developers, Quest Diagnostics, the newly approved diagnostic tool will become available to physicians in the United States and Puerto Rico as early as next week. Puerto Rico is considered to be among the most affected areas, compared to the rest of the United States, with potential for hundreds more infections. Currently, people who suspect they are infected with the virus can...

Aretha Franklin reacted to the death of Prince today on MSNBC: Franklin speculated that Prince died because of Zika. "But, you know, they're saying flu-like symptoms. i'm wondering if it had anything to do with this Zika virus," said Franklin.

WASHINGTON — Public health officials used their strongest language to date in warning about a Zika outbreak in the United States, as the Obama administration lobbied Congress for $1.9 billion to combat the mosquito-borne virus. "Most of what we've learned is not reassuring," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought." As summer approaches, officials are warning that mosquito eradication efforts, lab tests and vaccine research may not be able to catch up. There are...

Scientists in Brazil have uncovered a new brain disorder associated with Zika infections in adults: an autoimmune syndrome called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, or ADEM, that attacks the brain and spinal cord. Zika has already been linked with the autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome, which attacks peripheral nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis that can in some cases require patients to rely on respirators for breathing. The new discovery now shows Zika may provoke an immune attack on the central nervous system as well. The findings add to the growing list of neurological damage ...

We received a notice yesterday of our first case of confirmed Zika in Shelby County," says Alisa Haushalter, Director of Health Services in Shelby County. FOX13 has learned the man, who remains unidentified, contracted the Zika virus while he was in either South America, Central America or the Caribbean recently. Third case of Zika virus confirmed in Mississippi Haushalter says, “I know that it's a country that had Zika there.” Haushalter says when the man returned home he was feeling under the weather. He contacted the health department and then went to his doctor.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. Fueling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika. Evidence that Zika's damage may be more varied and widespread than initially believed adds pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive - and, in some cases, lifelong - care to more patients. The newly suspected disorders can cause paralysis and...