Brazil launches nationwide operation to eliminate mosquito

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Member Tom Carper and Chairman Ron Johnson have written to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden asking for more information about federal efforts to address the potential threat posed by this virus.

World Health Organization officials said between 500,000 and 1.5 million people had been infected in Brazil, and the virus has since spread to more than 20 countries in the region.

No matter how fast they are able to act, scientists have warned that it could take years for a Zika virus to become commercially available.

He agreed with Pryde that the Zika virus footprint will widen, though this virus won’t ever be as big an issue in the United States because so much work has been done throughout the country in mosquito control.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said the NIH is “working with partners to accelerate research, disease diagnosis, vaccines and therapeutics”.

The otherwise mild Zika virus is also suspected of causing a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome in some patients, in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, causing weakness and sometimes paralysis.

A GROUP that started at the University of Queensland could soon be at the forefront of stopping a global outbreak of mosquito- borne Zika virus, which causes birth defects.

The primary vector of the Zika virus is Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are present in the United States only in the southernmost states.

Afterward, Health Minister Marcelo Castro echoed her words, telling reporters “the mosquito is not stronger than the entire country”.

She said: “It is important to remember, when we talk about abortion and reproductive rights in general, that we have a social class split in Brazil – wealthy women will access safe abortion, legal or illegal, and poor women will go to the illegal market or continue to be pregnant”.

The WHO says the virus has grown rapidly to a public-health threat of “alarming proportions”.

The Brazilian president has ordered an operation to eliminate mosquito breeding areas at all installations run by the the armed forces and at all federal educational, health and other facilities.

Gregory Taylor said Friday that two people from British Columbia, one from Alberta and another from Quebec contracted the virus overseas.

Taylor says there is little to no risk of contracting the virus in Canada since mosquitoes that transmit the virus are not adaptable to the climate.

Most people do not develop symptoms of the Zika virus but may pass the virus on to their children.

For everyone else other than pregnant women, the risk involved with Zika virus is largely flu-like illness without the respiratory symptoms and cough, Pryde said.

In a Twitter message, Rousseff said that “we must declare war on the Aedes aegypti mosquito” and pursue an operation aimed at breeding grounds for the insect until a vaccine is developed.

Several governments have warned pregnant women against traveling to affected countries, and several major airlines are now offering refunds to expecting mothers booked for travel to Latin America.