Brazil leader vows to win war against Zika-carrying mosquito

Genetically modified mosquitoes that would help fight the Zika virus are getting urgent attention from USA regulators as global health officials raise alarms about the pathogen’s spread.

It is recommended that pregnant women and those considering becoming pregnant discuss their travel plans with their health care provider to assess their risk and consider postponing travel to areas where the Zika virus is circulating in the Americas.

Almost 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly have been reported in Brazil since October, compared with fewer than 150 cases reported in the country in all of 2014.

Insecticides are sprayed year-round from helicopters and door-to-door throughout the Keys, with Key West, the southernmost USA city, particularly vulnerable as climate change and globalization spread tropical diseases farther from the equator. The other, Aedes aegypti, lives in the southern United States.

Officials from Brazil and worldwide health organizations are trying to determine if a widespread outbreak of the virus there is related to a seemingly sudden upswing in cases of birth defects.

In a letter to the editor published last week by the British journal The Lancet, Ventura and her team alerted the medical community to the eyesight problems found in Brazilian children with microcephaly thought to be caused by a Zika infection caught by mothers in the early stages of their pregnancies. People who get Zika virus disease typically have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue, with symptoms normally lasting for two to seven days. Brazil has been the nation most affected.

For pregnant women, Goldman said, “there is at least a chance your fetus could get a devastating illness”. However, it’s also possible it can exist in the blood and possibly infect a fetus for up to three weeks.

Louisiana has a good supply of the two known mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus that’s causing concern in South and Central America, but it remains unlikely Louisiana will experience a large outbreak.

No. you can only be sickened by Zika virus if you are bitten by an infected mosquito.

Experts further believe mosquito control efforts in the United States significantly reduce chances for the kind outbreaks that have occurred in the other countries.

“By the end of the calendar year, results had already indicated a reduction in wild mosquito larvae by 82%”, the company said in a statement.

Goldman said he would advise a Pennsylvania resident anxious about becoming infected to remove any kind of standing water around their home, including small containers that catch rainwater, since mosquitoes need standing water to breed.

Currently, there are some 31 confirmed cases in 11 states around the country.

The Zika virus is “is now spreading explosively” in the Americas, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday, with another official estimating between 3 million and 4 million Zika infections in the region over a 12-month period. Nine years ago, new cases popped up in islands in the Pacific Ocean.