[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Timo', ' ')If that is true, then a vaccine should be relatively easy to produce. Just isolate that resistant antibody from people who've successfully survived, or not succumbed at all, and reproduce that antibody for the rest of the world.

[vox_mundi]

Zika-Linked Brain Damage In Infants May Be 'Tip Of The Iceberg'

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')r. João Ricardo de Almeida says the infants born to mothers who were infected in the first trimester seem to suffer the most brain damage. And that kind of damage also appears to be different than what you would see with microcephaly caused by other types of infections.

"Regarding Zika there seems to be some particular abnormalities that we do not see in [microcephaly cases caused by] toxoplasmosis or cytomegalovirus or rubella."

A normal brain has ridges like coral. The brains of these babies look "like a smooth rock," he says.

He says the degree of brain damage he is seeing will probably mean that rehabilitation will be very difficult.

"They are not going to be functional," he says of the babies he has examined. "They'll need care for the rest of their lives."

Dr. Albert Ko from Yale University has been collaborating with the study in Bahia. He says that while the cases of microcephaly are getting all the attention, the Zika virus could be having a wider range of effects on the development of a fetus.

"We are seeing cases in the hospital of children who have normal size heads but are having neurological lesions and eye lesions," he says. "And we are extremely concerned ... this might suggest that [the microcephaly cases] are just the tip of the iceberg."

In other words, even children who appear normal may suffer from a range of developmental delays. So the deeper the investigation goes into this outbreak, the more worrying it becomes.

[Ulenspiegel]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vox_mundi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ulenspiegel', 'A')s I understood the high "infection rate" in Brasil is a result changed methodology. They now count everything that may be an actual infection. In most cases it is false alarm. The actual infection rate is probably more than one order of magnitude lower and not that much higher than in the last years IIRC.

[vox_mundi]

Brazil authorizes forced entry to private property to fight Zika

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')IO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff authorized health officials to enter private properties by force if necessary in an effort to control the spread of the mosquito-borne virus Zika, which the government has dubbed an "imminent danger to public health."

The presidential decree was published in the government's official gazette on Monday and allows the forced entry by health officials into public and private properties if they have been abandoned or the owners are not present.

[dohboi]

Now officially declared an international emergency by WHO.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016 ... /79647164/

[Rod_Cloutier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Conspiracy theory's will be coming out of the woodwork. Was this virus planted by the 1% to reduce the excess populations? Maybe an extremist environmental group unleashed it to depopulate the rainforest, so it can rebuild itself

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Obi Wan Kenobi', '[')b]THIS IS NOT THE DOOM YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

[dohboi]

One more horrible twist to Zika outbreak.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Another worrying unknown is a scenario of extreme disability where babies are born not only with microcephaly, the condition of the small brain, but also with damage to the nervous system with the result that the limbs cannot be controlled.

This is known as arthrogryposis, and pictures of babies born with it show distorted arms and legs, and X-rays reveal a lack of connection in the joints. The babies can only survive in intensive care.

Dr Vanessa Van der Linden and colleagues, who are preparing a paper on the condition, say six cases have now emerged in Recife and that it is “highly probable” that Zika is to blame.

She said: “The problem with these babies is in the spine. The motor neurones that makes the muscle move have a problem so these babies have some muscles without function.”

[Shaved Monkey]

Australian scientists may soon be at the forefront of the fight against the Zika virus in South America, using a biological control designed to combat dengue fever.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Professor Scott O'Neill, program director of Eliminate Dengue, a Melbourne-based, Australian-led international collaboration dedicated to wiping out dengue fever around the globe, said the organisation was in discussions with "governments in South America" about potentially adapting its work to combat the latest pandemic.

[C8]

Zika has been sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zi ... index.html

I think I read that the damage occurs in the 1st trimester mainly- so, in theory, a male could impregnate and transmit at the same time with the worst consequences.

This will speed transmission

[C8]

'Nothing justifies an abortion': Brazilian Catholic archdiocese says women should not use any method of birth control to combat spread of Zika virus

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he only exception to this rule is 'natural family planning', which sees women only have sex at times in their menstrual cycle when they are less likely to succeed. It only has a 25 per cent success rate.

Catholics are awaiting guidance from the Church on what they should do, with some countries advising women to simply not have sex until the threat of Zika has died down. El Salvador has told people not to have sex until 2018

However, the Vatican declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.

Reverend Father Frank Pavone, national director of U.S.-based anti-abortion group Priests for Life, said Catholics should not use birth control regardless of the Zika virus.

'That prohibition doesn't change based on circumstances,' he told CNN.

'So couples have a responsibility to live according to the church's teachings in whatever circumstances they find themselves.'

[C8]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Brazil's famous street carnivals which begin next week could be an 'explosive cocktail spreads the Zika virus around the globe' warns disease expert
Brazil carnivals could accelerate global spread of Zika virus, expert warns
Foreign tourists attending carnivals could take virus home with them
Skimpy outfits and rain heightens risk of contamination during carnival
The Zika virus is usually transmitted by the bite of a mosquito

[vox_mundi]

Zika Outbreak Is a 'Temperature Driven Eruption,' Says Scientist

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hile it’s too early to say exactly why the Zika outbreak has been so vicious, our recent record-breaking global heat wave offers one possible explanation.

Warmer temperatures help Zika by increasing the habitat for its mosquito vector, while speeding up the biological processes that help the virus replicate. “With higher temperatures you have more mosquitoes feeding more frequently and having a greater chance of acquiring infection,” Bill Reisen, an entomologist at UC Davis, told the Associated Press. “And then the virus replicates faster because it’s hotter, therefore the mosquitoes can transmit earlier in their life.”

Hotter temperatures also make mosquitoes hungrier, entomologist say, causing them to partake in more blood feasts and upping the odds of their viruses passing to humans.

[Tanada]

It occurs to me that microencephly only happens if women catch Zika during pregnancy and probably during the first trimester. It has also been shown that women who catch and recover from Zika before pregnancy have no adverse effects on development of the fertilized egg into a full term baby. Easy solution, take every non pregnant woman of child bearing age and inject her with Zika virus so she bets ill and has all her symptoms and recovers before she becomes pregnant. Figure out how long the immunity lasts and repeat as necessary.

[vox_mundi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'I')t occurs to me that microencephly only happens if women catch Zika during pregnancy and probably during the first trimester. It has also been shown that women who catch and recover from Zika before pregnancy have no adverse effects on development of the fertilized egg into a full term baby. Easy solution, take every non pregnant woman of child bearing age and inject her with Zika virus so she bets ill and has all her symptoms and recovers before she becomes pregnant. Figure out how long the immunity lasts and repeat as necessary.

[vox_mundi]

There's a chance Venezuela's Zika outbreak is worse than Brazil's

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Julio Castro, a professor of tropical epidemiology at the Central University of Venezuela, says he believed between 250,000 and 400,000 people had been infected with Zika in Venezuela. He calculated those numbers by feeding the government’s limited official data and other reports of unexplained fever cases into epidemiological and mathematical models, he said.

Other Venezuelan experts, including some from the independent Network to Defend National Epidemiology, have come up with similar projections.

If those numbers are correct, that would mean Venezuela, with its 33 million people, could have a higher per-capita rate of Zika infection than Brazil, which has 205 million people, and where officials estimate there have been between 500,000 and 1.5 million infections.

Castro added that there are other reasons to believe that Zika is several times more prevalent in Venezuela than Brazil. They include the fact that Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries the disease, is present in 16to 20 percent of Venezuelan homes but just 4-5 percent of Brazilian homes, he said.

[C8]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vox_mundi', '
')Unintended consequences of U.S. anti-socialist policy?

[onlooker]

https://www.yahoo.com/health/zika-virus ... 33502.html
The biggest threat from this virus is babies being born with mental deficiencies.

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('baha', 'I')s it my imagination or is Mother Nature doing her best to kill us off?