Pittsburgh researcher infected with Zika in lab accident

The kit, which can detect Zika virus within just 10 to 15 minutes, may lead to simpler, faster and lower cost detection than existing methods.

Unable to come up with a vaccine to counter the Zika virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now asked people in roughly 60 countries to consider postponing their plans of having a baby.

The risk assessment assumes that European Aedes-mosquitoes have the same potential to spread the Zika virus as their South-, Middle- and North American counterparts.

The virus has been linked to a surge of microcephaly – a devastating birth defect that has seen thousands of babies in Brazil born with unusually small heads and often severely compromised brains – and some athletes, journalists and others have expressed reservations about taking part in the games.

“Aedes Aegypti are mostly daytime-active and they are ankle biter so they’re mostly biting people around the lower feet and ankles”, said Levy.

In the analysis, the researchers overlaid data on monthly flows of airline travellers arriving in European cities from Zika-affected areas, data on month-by-month estimates of virus infection reproduction capabilities of Aedes-mosquito populations in Europe, and human population data within the areas where mosquito-borne transmission of the Zika virus could be possible.

The virus hasn’t yet been reported to have been transmitted by mosquitoes in the USA, though by some estimates that could occur this month.

Although Zika is primarily spread by mosquitoes, it can also be spread through sexual intercourse.

According to reports from the BBC, Rutherford and his partner Susie Verill have decided not to take any risks against Zika so the former will have his sperm frozen before participates in the upcoming Rio Olympics in Brazil.

“We need to do much better on mosquito control, ” he said, citing new products to kill the insects, including a trap that he said works like a “roach motel”.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito spreads the disease, and is very effective at doing so.

We hope Congress can put aside political posturing and do what is necessary to prepare for the threat of a Zika outbreak.

“We know that Zika is a completely unprecedented problem and the front-line response is going to be crucial”, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the C.D.C.’s deputy director, said in an interview. But CDC staffers, using the polio eradication infrastructure and working with Nigerian doctors and other health professionals, were able to contain it.

The widely trusted health body did not say for how long pregnancies should be delayed, but the fact that experts have so far stuggled to find ways to effectively battle the Zika virus means they may have to wait a while.