Canadian scientists testing Zika to see if virus can infect native mosquitoes

The best bet may be human intervention when there is an outbreak of a serious disease, such as Zika virus, she said.

Its website reports the virus has been found in Mexico, the Caribbean and South and Central America, and that travelers to those areas who later fall ill should consult with a physician.

Stressing that only about 20% who get infected are symptomatic (show symptoms), she points out that it would manifest as “just a fever” which passes after a The incubation period (the development of the infection from the time of the entry of the virus through the mosquito-bite into the body and the appearance of symptoms) is about seven days, it is learnt. The disease usually resolves in about a week.

Doctors and scientists have traced an apparent link between the disease in pregnant mothers and microcephaly, a birth defect that causes unusually small heads and brain damage in newborn babies.

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever.

Pino reported the Department of Health has sent 30 samples from pregnant women to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing for the Zika virus. The next step will be to grow large quantities of the virus in the lab and then begin infecting colonies of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, the two mosquito species known to transmit Zika in the Western Hemisphere.

“You have a lot of places where water can be stored and where mosquitoes can lay their eggs, making people living in slums vulnerable”, said Ana Carla Pecego, an infectious disease specialist in Rio de Janeiro.

“We don’t know. But I think those of us in the field think it could”. “A new disease or syndrome like this is a global problem, and we are lucky that the Brazilians were very prompt and open with their experience”, Schuchat said.

For a second infection to rapidly spread into a population already carrying one Wolbachia strain, it must benefit from cytoplasmic incompatibility, and the second strain must not reduce the fitness of the mosquitoes.

“It would be a higher hurdle for the virus to get over the top of”, said Cameron Simmons from University of Melbourne. “That’s the important thing: the mosquito may test positive during the outbreak, but is it actually capable of transmitting?”

A group led by Mordecai is studying the socio-ecology and climate responses of dengue and Zika virus transmission by catching Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at three sites in southern coastal Ecuador.

What is the history of the Zika virus?

The first trials of the genetically altered mosquitos to fight Zika have been happening in the Cayman Islands and in Brazil.

“We will be monitoring those mosquitoes every closely along with the other 49 species that occur in the state in our surveillance program”, Andreadis said. It’s definitely invasive and it’s an aggressive day-biting mosquito and it really likes to feed on humans.

However, Hunter said Canadians have no cause for panic.

“We can’t predict how far this mosquito will go in California”, said Cornel, noting that it has spread “south of Fresno to San Diego”.

“It is premature to comment on the vaccine candidates, but ICMR has put together a group of experts to examine their validity”, says Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).