USA health officials Friday appealed again for emergency funding to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus, after meeting resistance from Republican lawmakers who want to use money previously earmarked for Ebola.
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Georgia has had 11 travel-related cases of Zika so far. In Asia, China and Japan have reported several isolated cases, although neither have reported a full-fledged outbreak.
LUCY CARTER: The WHO’s latest report on Zika virus is very strongly worded. Many experts, however, said the chances of a full-blown outbreak are slim, especially in the cooler months when mosquitoes are not active.
“We’ve never had a mosquito-borne pathogen that could result in a birth defect”, said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, referring to the broad range of birth abnormalities now linked to the virus, including microcephaly, vision and hearing loss and other developmental problems for a newborn.
Federal officials say the unprecedented kinds of health conditions linked to the pathogen greatly increases the urgency of action.
It also has been associated with the autoimmune disease Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can lead to temporary paralysis.
New maps released by the Centers for Disease Control may only get people in our area talking about the Zika virus more.
Most mosquito abatement efforts in US states target nuisance mosquitoes, those that bite at dusk and ruin picnics and barbecues but pose little public health threat. There are going to need to be long term studies, case control studies in particular, cohort studies with lots of sampling, really following mothers to see what’s happening and that may take many, many months or even longer. Both viruses are carried by Aedes aegypti, the same species of mosquito that carries Zika.
Zika is quickly spreading across the Americas. Frieden said that Hawaii, Florida and Texas face the highest risk of local transmission due to large populations of the Aedes aegypti, but noted that other states are also at risk.
The New York City Health Departments says it is “aggressively increasing mosquito surveillance and control, and launching a public awareness campaign about mosquito bite prevention”.
The symptoms of the Zika virus are joint pain, red eyes, fever and rashes.
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Frieden described the main mosquito that spreads Zika, the Aedes aegypti, as the “cockroach of mosquitoes” because it tends to live in and around human homes. That’s different from the truck- and aerial-spraying seen in conventional mosquito eradication efforts.
