[eugene]

And it's only beginning.

[Plantagenet]

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

[Cog]

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

[GregT]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'S')he apparently hasn't been real successful with that endeavor since there are now more people on the planet than ever before.

[GHung]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GregT', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'S')he apparently hasn't been real successful with that endeavor since there are now more people on the planet than ever before.

[KaiserJeep]

Sound and fury, signifying nothing. There is no scientific causal link between zika and microcephaly.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')onsiderable debate has been going on regarding whether the Zika virus really is causing microcephaly, which consists of an abnormally small head, with incomplete brain development. Skeptics, particularly ones like me and many of my readers, know that correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation. It might, but in medicine much more often it does not. Regular readers of this blog also know that the more a condition is searched for the more it will be found, as milder cases are picked up that might not have been noticed before. Regular readers of this blog are probably familiar with what has sometimes been called the “awareness” effect, which is likely partially responsible for the surge in autism, along with broadening of the diagnostic criteria for autism-spectrum disorders, the surge known among antivaccine activists as the “autism epidemic,” the same “epidemic” they blame on vaccines. Similarly, screening programs always turn up subclinical and mild cases of the condition screened for, leading to an increase in apparent incidence.

[onlooker]

Well yes Kaiser is that not a feature of MSM, that they love to air stories that scare people. Thanks for those links to the factual science on this particular disease.

[chilyb]

We need to learn more about how many cases of microcephaly have been diagnosed and if it continues to follow the spread of the disease. It will probably take some time for this information to develop. According to this article, 80% of the cases show no symptoms.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/more-than-3100-pregnant-women-in-colombia-have-zika-virus-government-says/article28637541/

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', ' ')There is no scientific causal link between zika and microcephaly.

[vox_mundi]

Record heat, drought may explain Zika outbreak in Brazil

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here may be a link between the recent hot and dry winter and spring in Brazil and the outbreak of the Zika virus, preliminary research suggests.

"The extreme temperature and drought are due to a combination of the El Nino phenomenon and the climate changes of recent years," researcher Shlomit Paz, from the department of geography and environmental studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, said in a university news release.

Some scientists have said the outbreak is associated with El Nino-related heavy rains in parts of Latin and Central America. But Paz and Jan Semenza, of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm, have a slightly different take on the problem.

Instead, the study authors reported that the outbreak is due to the record-high temperatures and severe drought that occurred in northeast Brazil in the latter half of 2015, which is winter and spring in the southern hemisphere.

The hot temperatures and lack of rainfall were actually due to a combination of El Nino and climate change, the researchers explained.

High temperatures can boost the growth rates of the Aedes mosquitoes, which carry the Zika virus. Mosquitoes also require water, something that could be a problem for them in a drought. However, people in northeast Brazil store water in containers during droughts, and these containers provide a perfect habitat for the mosquitoes, Paz said.

The study was published online Feb. 1 as a research letter in The Lancet.

[vox_mundi]

Exclusive: U.S. athletes should consider not attending Olympics if fear Zika - according to officials

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]The United States Olympic Committee told U.S. sports federations that athletes and staff concerned for their health over the Zika virus should consider not going to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August.

The message was delivered in a conference call involving USOC officials and leaders of U.S. sport federations in late January, according to two people who participated in the call.

Federations were told that no one should go to Brazil "if they don't feel comfortable going. Bottom line," said Donald Anthony, president and board chairman of USA Fencing.

[Cog]

Vox always wants to blame America for everything wrong in the world.

[dohboi]

"...always...everything..."

Overstatement much?

[dohboi]

It's not just Zika that is spreading:

Hawaii Island Declares A Dengue Fever State Of Emergency
The state is experiencing its largest dengue outbreak in decades.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/haw ... 9b57dadece

[dohboi]

Not from the most neutral source, but a possibility that certainly should be investigated further:
http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/d ... -outbreak/

Doctors Name Monsanto’s Larvicide As Cause of Brazilian Microcephaly Outbreak

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Zika virus has been blamed for thousands of cases of the birth defect microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with severely shrunken heads and brain damage. But now a medical organization is challenging that connection, saying that the chemical larvicide Pyriproxyfen is instead to blame.

The Argentine organization Doctors in the Crop-Sprayed Towns says that most affected children live in areas in which the chemical was added in 2014 to local drinking water in an attempt to control mosquito populations. The larvicide is used to create malformations in mosquito larvae, in order to impair their development and reproductive abilities. Pyriproxyfen is manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical, a Japanese strategic partner of Monsanto.

[taw]

The virus was first isolated in Uganda in 1948.
We don't hear of problems with microcephaly in Africa.
My hunch is that implies natural immunity acquired from childhood exposure there.
If so, then the solution will be a vaccine given in childhood.
I expect one will be developed and become part of routine vaccination within a few years.
A similar vaccination would be rubella, given as part of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination to 1 year olds.

[Plantagenet]

Zika proven to be spread by sex, oral sex, and mosquitos. ZIKA Virus has been found in saliva as well, so possibly it can be spread by kissing.

zika-oral-sex-kissing-transmission

This reminds me of the start of the AIDS epidemic, when doctors were unsure if could only be spread by sex, or if possibly kissing and/or mosquitoes could spread it as well.

With Zika, we now know that its by sex AND mosquitoes, so it actually spreads more easily than AIDS.

The ZIKA virus does show in some victim's saliva, so it seems like it could could be spread by kissing, but doctors have found no cases where it definitely was spread by kissing.

No word yet if you have to worry about ZIKA-infected waiters sneezing on your salad.


Some ZIKA victims have the virus in their saliva.

[dohboi]

The World's Biggest Health Organization Just Told Millions of Women It's Not Safe to Get Pregnant

Of course, it's not always their choice.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he World Health Organization is recommending that women and couples living in areas with widespread Zika infection should delay getting pregnant in order to avoid the risk that their babies will be born with congenital brain defects the virus can cause.

The WHO's statement on Tuesday—which aligns with the policies of five Latin American countries and Puerto Rico—will affects millions of reproductive-aged people in the 46 countries where Zika is likely to spread. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—which has advised pregnant Americans, and those trying to conceive, not to travel to Zika-plagued areas—25 percent of Puerto Rico's 3.5 million population will have been infected with Zika by year's end.

But...avoiding pregnancy is nearly impossible for many of the women living where Zika is worst.

That's because Latin American and Caribbean countries, where 58 percent of pregnancies are unintended, have some of the harshest and most restrictive reproductive health laws in the world.

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', '[')b]The World's Biggest Health Organization Just Told Millions of Women It's Not Safe to Get Pregnant

Of course, it's not always their choice.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he World Health Organization is recommending that women and couples living in areas with widespread Zika infection should delay getting pregnant in order to avoid the risk that their babies will be born with congenital brain defects the virus can cause.

The WHO's statement on Tuesday—which aligns with the policies of five Latin American countries and Puerto Rico—will affects millions of reproductive-aged people in the 46 countries where Zika is likely to spread. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—which has advised pregnant Americans, and those trying to conceive, not to travel to Zika-plagued areas—25 percent of Puerto Rico's 3.5 million population will have been infected with Zika by year's end.

But...avoiding pregnancy is nearly impossible for many of the women living where Zika is worst.

That's because Latin American and Caribbean countries, where 58 percent of pregnancies are unintended, have some of the harshest and most restrictive reproductive health laws in the world.