US scientists have urged the World Health Organisation to take urgent action over the Zika virus, which they say has "explosive pandemic potential". Writing in a US medical journal, they called on the WHO to heed lessons from the Ebola outbreak and convene an emergency committee of disease experts. They said a vaccine might be ready for testing in two years but it could be a decade before it is publicly available. Zika, linked to shrunken brains in children, has caused panic in Brazil. Thousands of people have been infected there and it has spread to some 20 countries. ◾Would it be wrong to eradicate mosquitoes? The Brazilian President, Dilma Roussef, has urged Latin America to unite in combating the virus. She told a summit in Ecuador that sharing knowledge about the disease was the only way that it would be beaten. A meeting of regional health ministers has been called for next week. Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Daniel R Lucey and Lawrence O Gostin say the WHO's failure to act early in the recent Ebola crisis probably cost thousands of lives. They warn that a similar catastrophe could unfold if swift action is not taken over the Zika virus. There is no cure for the virus and the hunt is on for a vaccine, led by scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch. The researchers have visited Brazil to carry out research and collect samples and are now analysing them in a suite of high-security laboratories in Galveston, Texas. The Zika virus was discovered in monkeys in 1947 in Uganda's Zika Forest, with the first human case registered in Nigeria in 1954 but for decades it did not appear to pose much of a threat to people and was largely ignored by the scientific community. It was only with an outbreak on the Micronesian island of Yap in 2007 that some researchers began to take an interest. In the past year the virus "exploded" said Prof Weaver, sweeping through the Caribbean and Latin America "infecting probably a couple of million people". http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35425731 Another strange component of this disease is that it is transmissible from person to person via sexual intercourse or contaminated blood much like the Ebola virus, but more like the AIDs virus, because you can be infected and have no symptoms. There are confirmed Zika cases in Texas and in California. Because Zika causes microcephaly in fetuses, women in South America are being asked to postpone getting pregnant until 2018. The disease will likely spread across all of the Americas. If it spreads as quickly as it seems to be doing now, and as quickly as the AIDs virus spread, all women will want to think twice about getting pregnant. Zika might turn out to be mother nature's birth control. Brazil, which is set to host the Olympics, has been especially hit. Twenty-two thousand army personnel have been deployed to pass out flyers warning of the virus, and suggesting ways to limit its spread. The only way to fight the spread of the disease now is to empty all containers with standing water in them because these are breeding grounds for the mosquito that causes Zika; but because Rio's slums lack running water, many Brazilians have to carry their water in buckets. So this might be a challenge.
This is something serious. If it could be spread by ordinary mosquitoes then it could spread world-wide and it would cause major problems. Like is it reasonable to kill defective newborn babies? If not then they will need caring for their entire lives.
Sure, we have already devalued all human life with abortion for convenience, even when we have birth control, but people are too irresponsible to use birth control and instead just kill the baby they made. So, human life is not important, so why not just knock the babies born with small brains, with a baseball bat right after birth? Looks like to me that nature has seen that the large brains it gave man has not worked out very well. He is the only animal that is destroying the planet, and the planet being smarter than the big brained mammals. decided the brain needed to be shrunk up, so as not to destroy all of the other life on this world. Nature gave us big brains, that can figure out how to go to the moon, but WILL NOT figure out how to live on earth in peace, how to have a world where people do not starve to death, when there are enough resources for all to thrive instead of so many suffering in their miserable lives. So us, with our big brains blew it, and created a world of perpetual war for perpetual peace, where we fashion economic systems where there are a few extraordinary rich at the top who always are intent on getting as much of the income from the bottom 99 percent as possible, even if it starves that 99 percent in the process. Such a greedy brain in the sociopaths among us who end up being our rulers and our rich elites. Nature will probably keep coming up with things like viruses that will either cull the population down, or give us the Zika virus that reduces the size of our brains, making us more chimp like, but who at least lives in some harmony with that which manifested the species. Smaller brains ain't so bad, since we sure as hell didn't use our big brains for the good of humanity and the planet. These big brains regressed and brought back 1920s GOPher neoliberalism from the 1920s, which crashed our economy back then, gave us the great depression, and it took anti neoliberalism, which is the OLD progressivism, of FDR, to fix what these big brained idiots broke. Then those big brains developed amnesia and forgot the devastation that GOPher neoliberalism wrought upon America's people, and allowed Reagan and the Bush oligarchs to bring back what failed once, and failed because it ignores the power of sociopathic elite greed to prey upon a People like a damned blood sucking parasite, that inevitable makes it host sick, before it destroys it. This is what big brains created folks. So perhaps instead of murdering these small brained kids, perhaps they will have a brain that is actually intelligent in ways other than destroying the human friendly environment, intelligent enough not to wage perpetual war for perpetual peace, and will finally negate the sociopathic greed that insures humanity in great numbers suffer and die from the effects of starvation and a lack of essential resources, where there is plenty enough to go around. Perhaps our Golden Age comes from losing an incoherent big brain, and nature gives us a smaller one that is at least coherent, rational, logical, reasonable. So what would the big brained people want to do to the small brained people? Well, kill em of course!!! That is what the myopic big brained folks do. For like the unborn human who is killed in his mother's womb, for mere convenience due to an irresponsible indecent, uncaring, human being, for the sake of convenience we can kill these smaller brained humans as well. They might cramp our self centered, selfish, individualistic life style. And the big brains do not much like that. Right? Let's state the FACTUALITY here. Just be blunt and call it what it is.
UNICEF now has power of Google behind it in Zika virus fight... Google Teams with UNICEF to Map Spread of Zika Virus March 03, 2016 - Tech giant Google said Thursday that it is working with the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to help "map and anticipate" the spread of the Zika virus, which is linked to birth defects in children. See also: WHO Director: Zika Menace Likely to Get Worse Before It's Stopped February 25, 2016 - Fear of the Zika virus is intense in Brazil because of its apparent link to a birth defect. After a fact-finding mission in Brazil, Dr. Margaret Chan, who heads the World Health Organization, said the situation "can get worse before it gets better."
Zika eats brain cells... Zika caught 'killing' brain cells Fri, 04 Mar 2016 - Zika virus kills the type of tissue found in the developing brain, researchers have shown.
Zika and the blood supply... Zika virus and safe blood supply Monday 7th March, 2016 - Can Zika virus be transmitted through donated blood? See also: Zika and sexual transmission Monday 7th March, 2016 - Can Zika be transmitted through sex?
Bring back DDT if you are that worried about it. Otherwise this just plays like a population control PR stunt.
Zika keeps gettin' scarier an' scarier... With Each New Discovery, Zika Virus Becomes More Frightening March 10, 2016 - Scientists are making new discoveries about the Zika virus almost daily, and the more they learn, the more frightening the virus becomes. See also: CDC Chief: Puerto Rico Facing 'Hundreds of Thousands' of Zika Cases March 10, 2016 - The top U.S. disease prevention official said Thursday that there could be "hundreds of thousands" of Zika cases in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in the coming months if precautions are not taken.
Panama reports Zika baby brain case... Zika: Panama has 'first microcephaly case outside Brazil' Sat, 19 Mar 2016 - A baby is born in Panama with a brain disorder thought to be linked to the Zika virus, in what may be the first such case outside Brazil in the current outbreak.
This summer more Than 30 States at 'High Risk' for Zika... CDC Chief: More Than 30 States at 'High Risk' for Zika Transmission March 24, 2016 | Zika is an emergency; infected mosquitos may arrive in the U.S. this summer; "and there's much that we still don't know about it," Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Congress on Wednesday.
Mouse Model to Help Test Zika Vaccines, Drugs... US Scientists Develop Mouse Model to Test Zika Vaccines, Drugs March 28, 2016 Early tests with infected mice show virus growing in testes, offering clues about how virus typically spread by mosquito bite can be transmitted sexually
Zika/microcephaly/Guillain-Barre syndrome link... Zika mystery deepens with evidence of nerve cell infections April 6, 2016 - 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. See also: Doctors Urge Congress to Fund Zika Research, Preparation April 05, 2016 - The mosquito breeding season is getting underway in the U.S., and with it has come a growing concern about the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
US confirms Zika causes birth defects... US health experts confirm that Zika causes birth defects Wed, 13 Apr 2016 - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that the Zika virus causes severe birth defects including microcephaly. See also: White House: House-Passed Zika Bill ‘Akin to Passing Out Umbrellas’ Before a Hurricane April 13, 2016 – White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said Wednesday that a bill allows the FDA to include Zika drug developers in its voucher program is an “insufficient” response to the Zika outbreak and “akin to passing out umbrellas in the advance of a potential hurricane. ”
OMG ZIKA!!!! It's the end of the human race! Seriously everyone, get some mosquito repellent and quit freaking out.
What about the high levels of Zika found in male testicles... Pepper spray? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...ding-evidence-virus-sexually-transmitted.html
I Survived Swine Flu. I Survived SARS. I Survived West Nile Virus. And "they" want me to worry about Zika virus? Moi What Me Worry? r > g View attachment 42367
It's all about the government funding. Typical game plan, announce that "something new" has come along. Make it sound like it "could" be a concern and that some precautions should be taken. Then after a short time, GO (*)(*)(*)(*)ING BESERK! Run and scream to everyone that the world is ending, everything is all (*)(*)(*)(*)ed up and (*)(*)(*)(*)-loads of money is needed to solve the issue. Result, the Messiah wants two billion dollars to give them.
It is going to be rough for the Olympics. Any females that might get pregnant just before or during the Olympics should not go there. So the number of people going could be significantly down. Either that or they take some temporary measures to not get pregnant.
I advocated on another thread for the eradication of the disease carrying species of mosquito from the face of the Earth. Technology exists today to make this a reality provided a concerted effort is made. Primarily releasing genetically modified mosquitoes that pass along genetic instructions to render the females sterile. Mosquito borne diseases effecting humans and other animals include: malaria, dengue, filariasis, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis and Zika fever. By far, mosquitoes are the most deadly living things known to humans on this planet, causing one million human deaths annually, primarily from malaria. Malaria alone kills about 1 million people annually and makes another 246 million people sick. A permanent mosquito eradication plan would prioritize and establish the species that need to be eliminated. Of the thousands of mosquito species about 200 carry and transmit pathogens to humans. Not all mosquitoes will need to be targeted. Its time the World organized to wipe them off of the planet by introducing genetically modified variants spreading self-limiting traits with the ultimate goal being eradication of a species. When we're done with mosquitoes we go after rats.
The Zika virus will hit the United States. .Zika is typically transmitted through bites from the same kind of mosquitoes - Aedes aegypti - that can spread other tropical diseases, like dengue fever, chikungunya and yellow fever The area in blue is where this species is found. There is already historical precedence using genetics, not chemical toxins, to go after a specific species of insect... Case in point, in 1953, Edward Knipling used an Army X-ray machine to sterilize some flies and released them on Florida’s Sanibel Island. The experiment worked. Then it worked again, on the island of Curacao. Within a few months, Knipling had exterminated the island’s native screwworm population—a full-blown screwworm massacre. By 1959, the fly was gone from all Southeastern states. Not long after that, it had disappeared from the U.S. as a whole. Malaria outbreaks in the U.S. have been small and relatively isolated, but the potential risk for the disease to re-emerge is present. Many are dismissing the dangers of mosquito borne pathogens as the realm of 3rd World countries, but the risk in the U.S. for the Zika virus to spread here, particularly in the Southern half of the U.S. is not a question of will, it's a question of when. The consequences include birth defects. We can wait for a Zika virus vaccine, but we should also begin planning for the extermination of the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito, a known carrier of pathogens dangerous to humans...the sooner the better.
First zika microcephaly baby born in NJ... Baby Born to Zika-infected Mom in NJ Has Microcephaly June 01, 2016 - Health officials in New Jersey said a baby girl born on Tuesday, to a mother who was infected with the Zika virus, has severe microcephaly.
Was listening to News and it said they expect One Quarter of Puerto Rico's population to have been exposed to Zika by the end of 2016. Of course, this population also travels heavily to the USA - Fl/NY/etc. And perhaps could start being spread by other main mosquito. And I expect we'll be having some domestically-gotten infections in Florida by the end of this month. Then the whole SE. The Feds refusing Florida Spraying money. +
We must stop this now before it is too late to have young nursing students to wipe baby boomer butts!!!! I have faith that next year there will be a new virus that will wipe us all out. Winters are good for that sort of cleansing.
Senate gets dire assessment on zika... US Senators Warned on Zika After Failing to Pass Funding June 29, 2016 One day after Zika funding failed in the Senate, U.S. lawmakers heard a sobering assessment of the virus' potential to do harm and America's lack of preparedness to fight the mosquito that carries it.
