“They work to not only minimize the overall number of mosquitoes, but more importantly to reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus, chikungunya & Zika, that these insects may carry”, said Freeholder H. James Polos, Chair of the County’s Public Safety and Health Committee and liaison to the Mosquito Extermination Commission. She said official responses advocating for abstinence and to delay pregnancy have placed the burden for prevention on women.
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The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says it has conducted 1,147 tests on B.C. and Yukon residents since last November.
A new case of travel-related Zika has been confirmed in Collier County, increasing to three the county’s cases since tracking began in early February. All cases of Zika in Rhode Island have been travel-acquired, meaning people who have had the virus got it while traveling elsewhere. In countries that had issued no health warnings, there was no statistically-significant increase.
Yet the widespread Culex mosquitoes that spread West Nile may not be able to distribute Zika, which has circulated through Aedes mosquitoes in the epidemic overseas.
“I honestly don’t know what we’re going to find”, said Mr. Rasgon, an associate professor who is studying whether Culex mosquitoes could be a Zika vector. Lakey also said that they should act urgently as the mosquitoes that are the carriers of Zika are most active during the summer.
There is a real concern that Zika virus transmission could be missed and we will discover it only if and when babies with microcephaly appear on obstetrical wards in the affected areas.
“Understanding Emergent Responses and Decision-Making Under the Threat of Zika”, is funded by a $25,000 grant from the NSF’s Rapid Response Research program which is created to provide support for research topics of “severe urgency”, according to an IU press release. “If anything, our approach may underestimate the impact of health warning on requests for abortion, as many women may have used an unsafe method or visited local underground providers”. However, Aiken and colleagues also noted that these estimates are likely an underestimate due numerous women in these countries seeking abortions through illegal and unsafe methods.
Mosquitoes are infecting over 300 million people every year with life threatening diseases, according to a World Health Organisation report. Although most people recover within about a week from any symptoms – such as a fever, rash and joint aches – infected pregnant women face an elevated risk of birth defects.
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The best way to avoid any pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes is to prevent being bitten.
