Here's the fear mongering du jour. We have known about this virus for decades ... what suddenly happened.? My jaded assessment is that this is another distraction, an excuse to extend the nanny state, and a financial opportunity for international pharma. .


Feb 3, 2016 10:15am EST
Zika mosquitoes’ habits may foil U.S. elimination efforts
CHICAGO | By Julie Steenhuysen

Health experts are bracing for Zika virus to spread to the United States by April or May, borne by a mosquito that craves human blood, feeds during the day and lives under beds and inside closets.

Until now, the best weapon against disease-carrying mosquitoes in the United States has been outdoor pesticide fog sprayed by truck and airplane. But health experts fear the typical approach will do little to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries Zika.

Controlling that mosquito requires pesticide sprayed under beds, on the walls and in closets, said Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, who studies disease transmission patterns of mosquitoes at Emory's School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Sciences.

"We know fogging is not effective," Vazquez-Prokopec said.

Though there could be localized U.S. outbreaks, most likely along the Gulf Coast, federal officials said they hope the wide use of air conditioning, window screens and regular garbage collection will mitigate the risk.

The World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak an international health emergency this week after evidence linking the virus to microcephaly, a devastating birth defect that can cause unusually small heads and permanent brain damage. Brazil has reported 3,700 suspected cases of microcephaly. The outbreak is now affecting at least 25 countries and territories, most of them in Latin American and the Caribbean, and could infect up to 4 million people in the Americas, according to the WHO.

More than 30 people in the United States have been confirmed to have Zika after traveling to an affected country. There has been one report of transmission within the United States, but experts believe that will increase as the weather warms up, the local mosquito population multiplies and many more travelers return to the country.

"All it takes is one of those individuals who arrives back in the United States at the stage where they have virus in their blood," said Scott Weaver, an expert in mosquito-borne viral diseases at the University Texas Medical Branch's Galveston National Laboratory. At that point, he said, a single mosquito biting the affected person could spread the disease to others.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday the risk of transmission now is "quite low," but as temperatures rise, "we want to make sure that we have got a strategy to try to limit the spread of this disease when that happens."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health...t-idUSKCN0VC04B

Also:
Feb 3, 2016 10:15am EST
First U.S. Zika virus transmission reported, attributed to sex
AUSTIN, Texas | By Jon Herskovitz

The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, a day after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health...Name=healthNews

Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #3

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Zitat

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The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite...

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Interesting. And exactly how...never mind, I don't want to know.

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I have the exact same question ... great minds and all that.