The serene, majestic bottlenose dolphins that swim off the Florida Everglades are contaminated with mercury – the highest levels ever documented in the entire species – and it’s killing them. And because the dolphins are a sentinel species that provide a glimpse into the health of both ecosystems and humans, the discovery means it’s likely that people living in the area are also affected. [1]
On August 19, Florida Governor Rick Scott said that officials have identified South Beach as the 2nd site of Zika transmission on the U.S. mainland. Scott said that 5 new Zika infections have been linked to an area that encompasses much of the neighborhood. [1]
Reported Zika Virus Cases in the United States | HealthGrove
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is advising pregnant women, women considering becoming pregnant, and their partners not to visit a small community just north of Miami, Florida, where the Zika virus is beginning to spread via mosquito bites.
The announcement marks the 1st time the CDC has warned people not to travel to an American neighborhood over concern of catching an infectious disease. [1]
A study recently published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests women who eat as much or more seafood as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends for pregnant women may be exposing themselves to unsafe levels of mercury, depending on the types of fish they’re eating.
Source: The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
For years pregnant women have been told to limit their fish consumption due to high levels of mercury in some types of seafood. However, a recent study has found pregnant women who eat some of the same fish they’ve been told to avoid may confer protective effects on fetal brain development and protection against autism.
The biotech industry once told the world that Bt insecticidal crops were only harmful to insects and were harmless to pets and people. But a new study of the ecotoxicological risks of widespread commercial Bt spraying found otherwise. Introban®, a Bt-containing product, caused 100% lethality in amphibians.
The Zika virus is believed to have caused miscarriages in 2 women in America who recently traveled abroad, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
If you want a little background on the Zika Virus before reading on, check out the video below.
For the average person, the Zika virus is no big deal. Most people never even have symptoms, and those that do have red eyes and feel like the flu. The infection usually clears up within a few days.
In rare cases, Zika can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that can lead to life-threatening paralysis.
The Zika virus is spreading so quickly in Latin America and the Caribbean that health officials in El Salvador are advising women not to become pregnant until at least 2018 to give them a chance to get on top of the crisis.
Other Latin American countries, including Colombia and Ecuador, as well as Jamaica and in the Caribbean, have recommended delaying pregnancy, though for not as long.
The Zika virus is on the move, and it has arrived in the United States, with the first case of the illness being confirmed in a baby in Hawaii.
Little was known about the Zika virus in the U.S. until now because it generally causes mild symptoms including a fever, sometimes a rash, conjunctivitis and headache. In rare cases, it can cause the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre, which results in paralysis.
