Researchers at the Google-linked science company Verily are in the process of releasing 20 million sterile mosquitoes into the Fresno County, California, area in an attempt to actually stop the disease-carrying menaces from breeding. [1]
The yellow fever outbreak currently sweeping the jungles of Brazil could be the next Zika virus in the United States, health officials say. The Latin American country has seen an increase in the disease over the past few weeks in some of its rural areas. [1]
Health officials with the Pan American Health Organization have confirmed 371 cases of yellow fever, including 241 deaths. The group is investigating hundreds of other potential cases.
On November 19, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District board voted to approve a trial of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes designed to fight the Zika virus in the Keys.
Key West Source: Tampa Bay Times
The district has been working with British biotech company Oxitec for the last 5 years to get federal approval for a trial release of the genetically engineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into the wild. When they mate with female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, their offspring die.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued new warnings recently aimed at both men and women for avoiding transmission of the Zika virus. [1]
On September 30 the CDC said, among other things, that pregnant women should consider postponing travel to 11 Southeast Asian countries where Zika is spreading, and shored up its warnings for men who are considering having children.
The Zika virus is a real and legitimate fear, so finding a way to cut the mosquito population, which spreads the virus, is important. But in Dorchester County, South Carolina, millions of bees were killed when county officials sprayed pesticides to combat the disease-carrying insects.
Paul Ryan and his utterly dysfunctional House Republican conference is riven with so much in-fighting and back-stabbing and with so many ideological purity tests that they can't get anything done-- not even the most basic functions of government. The Florida delegation-- both Democrats and Republicans-- have been begging and are now demanding that Ryan call Congress back into session to deal with the Zika crisis.
A tropical wave in the Caribbean appeared to be morphing into a tropical storm this week, with the potential to slam into Florida. The chance of it turning into a storm or a hurricane has largely subsided, but the year’s hurricane season has only just begun, and many Floridians fear such tropical weather could help spread the Zika virus. [1]
When it comes to the impact of tropical weather on the spread of Zika, there are 2 main concerns: standing water, and high winds.
On August 26, 2016, health officials announced the first case of Zika spread through sex by a man with no symptoms of the virus. Zika has been sexually transmitted in 21 other cases, but those infections were passed on by someone with symptoms of the disease. [1]
Read: Zika Virus Is “Scarier than the CDC Initially Thought”
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) official says the end of the Zika virus could still be a year or 2 away, and that Gulf Coast states, besides Florida, are most vulnerable to the spread of the disease.
Anthony Fauci, the director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s “This Week”:
“I would not be surprised if we see cases in Texas and Louisiana, particularly now where you have the situation with flooding in Louisiana. There are going to be a lot of problems getting rid of standing water.” [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
