A baby born in Texas with the Zika-linked birth defect microcephaly has died, health officials say.
The baby was infected in the womb while the mother was travelling in Latin America, though state officials have not identified where.
The defect causes abnormally small heads and other developmental damage.
Florida Governor Rick Scott also announced four more people had contracted the Zika virus, bringing the state's total to 21 cases.
And so it begins...
:(
Quote from: "Gay Boy Roberto"
The baby was infected in the womb while the mother was travelling in Latin America, though state officials have not identified where.
The defect causes abnormally small heads and other developmental damage.
Florida Governor Rick Scott also announced four more people had contracted the Zika virus, bringing the state's total to 21 cases.
Are there any risks to anyone besides those that are expecting?
I'm thinking DDT is the answer.
I think the spread of Zika was caused by human meddling and the wonders of genetic engineering. Our scientists and the corporations who back them have completely trashed what was once an environmentally beautiful continent - by introducing foreign species or modifying them. The Zika crisis mirrors that of the African Bee which was introduced to Brazil in the 1950s. And someone let it loose, and the rest is history, with scores of marauding bees which have killed hundreds of people all the way down south as far as Argentina right up into Texas.
Quote from: "Fashionista"
People exposed to bites by infected mosquitos are at risk of contracting Zika. Additionally, evidence has shown that the virus can be transmitted sexually. Studies are currently examining other possible transmission modes.
While the virus itself may not present any symptoms (though symptoms can include fever, skin rash, headache, and joint pain), researchers have identified conclusive links between the virus and two rare but serious conditions: microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
While most people who contract Guillain-Barré syndrome will recover fully within a few weeks, babies born with microcephaly can suffer physical or developmental disabilities and require support their entire lives.
http://stories.plancanada.ca/the-zika-virus-4-things-you-need-to-know/?gclid=CKOXysTmuc4CFYphfgod2ZwCog
What I've noticed when walking around Vancouver is that there are increasing numbers of Latino women from Brazil having children here. The ones who have the money may be fleeing north just for the privilege of having a normal child. I suppose the net benefit is twofold for them - a baby born sans the effects of the Zika virus because Canada doesn't breed those kind of mosquitos (yet), and the child is conferred with Canadian and dual citizenship. In a way, I can hardly blame them. If the price to concieve and to deliver a normal child is to fly thousands of miles north and pay tens of thousands offoreign hospital fees, then perhaps its worth it. Otherwise a deformed child will end up costing the parents and the state hundreds of thousands of dollars of their lifetime.
Quote from: "JOE"
Most Spanish speakers I have met in Calgary are from Central American nations.
Uh oh TD
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/zika-virus-costa-rica
Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Perhaps a 'friend' taught Joe Portuguese.
Quote from: "Gay Boy Roberto"
Did he say Spanish is the official language in Brazil?
Quote from: "Meathead"
Quote from: "Gay Boy Roberto"
Did he say Spanish is the official language in Brazil?
It doesn't seem to matter.
"There is not active surveillance going on in the at-risk states in the United States," said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. "I think there's not just Zika transmission going on in Miami, it's going on all up and down the Gulf Coast and in Arizona, it's just that nobody's looking."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/17/zika-virus-outbreaks-us-testing-difficulties-mosquitoes
Quote from: "RW"
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/zika-virus-costa-rica
Costa Rica is doing its best to eradicate Zika. Tourist dollars are important. Sure hasent slowed chubby sunburned Canadians from visiting.
The CDC is estimating that a quarter of Peurto Ricans will be infected with by the end of 2016. I've also read it could cost $4 million in lifetime healthcare costs for every infected child.
Quote from: "Renee"
Sure, let's replace something that causes health defects with something else that causes health defects. We can finally get rid of those pesky bald eagles.
Quote from: "Romero"
Quote from: "Renee"
Sure, let's replace something that causes health defects with something else that causes health defects. We can finally get rid of those pesky bald eagles.
"Silent Spring", the catalyst for stopping DDT use has been proven to be based on pseudo-science and typical radical environmentalist hysterics.
The only thing the banning of DDT has been proven to have accomplished is huge increases in insect born diseases like malaria and dengue fever.
If we have a chance to contain this situation thru the use of DDT, it should be strongly considered.
Quote from: "Renee"
In very limited situations. It's a very fine line between how many people are helped or harmed by the DDT. Mosquitos have becoming resistant to it. The WHO says bed netting is better.
It's not a solution for Zika. You wouldn't have your house sprayed with DDT.
Quote from: "Romero"
Quote from: "Renee"
In very limited situations. It's a very fine line between how many people are helped or harmed by the DDT. Mosquitos have becoming resistant to it. The WHO says bed netting is better.
It's not a solution for Zika. You wouldn't have your house sprayed with DDT.
Okay, what is the solution then, smart guy?
BTW, netting is not better. It's a band aid for a gaping wound. Nets have benefical uses but they are a short term fix for a long term problem. You do realize that you can't live under a mosquito net 24/7/365, don't you? You might as well tell people to stay in a sealed box for the rest of their lives. :laugh3:
Sounds like a case for vaccine development - tout de suite.
Quote from: "Renee"
BTW, netting is not better. It's a band aid for a gaping wound. Nets have benefical uses but you do realize that you can't live under a mosquito net 24/7/365, don't you? You might as well tell people to stay in a sealed box for the rest of their lives. :laugh3:
Prevention, work on a vaccine, and access to the kind of women's reproductive healthcare that you despise.
The WHO says bed netting has been the best option. It's saved millions of lives. You can't live under a net 24/7, but the rare and limited applications of DDT can only be used within the house as well. Neither stops people from getting bitten outside.
I almost forgot:
Quote from: "Renee"
Another right-wing myth. Proven by who? Not scientists.
//https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Convention_on_Persistent_Organic_Pollutants
180 countries agree that DDT must be restricted as much as possible. This isn't the 1950s.
Quote from: "Romero"
Quote from: "Renee"
BTW, netting is not better. It's a band aid for a gaping wound. Nets have benefical uses but you do realize that you can't live under a mosquito net 24/7/365, don't you? You might as well tell people to stay in a sealed box for the rest of their lives. :laugh3:
Prevention, work on a vaccine, and access to the kind of women's reproductive healthcare that you despise.
The WHO says bed netting has been the best option. It's saved millions of lives. You can't live under a net 24/7, but the rare and limited applications of DDT can only be used within the house as well. Neither stops people from getting bitten outside.
I almost forgot:
Quote from: "Renee"
Another right-wing myth. Proven by who? Not scientists.
//https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Convention_on_Persistent_Organic_Pollutants
180 countries agree that DDT must be restricted as much as possible. This isn't the 1950s.
Many reputable sources would disagree with your alarmist rhetoric.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2428/was-rachel-carson-a-fraud-and-is-ddt-actually-safe-for-humans
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/summ02/Carson.html
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-truth-about-ddt-and-silent-spring
"The environmental movement used DDT as a means to increase their power. Charles Wurster, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, commented, "If the environmentalists win on DDT, they will achieve a level of authority they have never had before.. In a sense, much more is at stake than DDT."[Seattle Times, October 5, 1969]"
https://junkscience.com/1999/07/100-things-you-should-know-about-ddt/
"Politics has long bedevilled malaria. Its first effective cure was quinine, which was discovered by Jesuit missionaries in South America during the 1630s, but for decades Protestants preferred to die rather than swallow "Jesuit's Powder".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4264030/DDT-is-safe-just-ask-the-professor-who-ate-it-for-40-years.html
BTW, immunologists at the Mayo Clinic are saying that a vaccine that is safe and effective for use in diverse human populations that span age, gender, and medical history could take years to produce.
Are you sure we can afford to wait that long?
My goodness those sources are lousy.
Quote
Who is Cecil Adams?
Cecil Adams is the world's most intelligent human being. We know this because: (1) he knows everything, and (2) he is never wrong.
We can find any argument from questionable individuals on the internet, but I prefer to believe the WHO, the UN, 180 national governments, The American Association for the Advancement of Science...
Quote
:laugh: Discreetly, eh? As in he has no proof but he "just knows" what they're thinking. Yet we know for a fact that Western environmentalists are always working with and helping the "natives". Millions saved with mosquito net campaigns for just one example.
Quote from: "Romero"
Quote
Who is Cecil Adams?
Cecil Adams is the world's most intelligent human being. We know this because: (1) he knows everything, and (2) he is never wrong.
We can find any argument from questionable individuals on the internet, but I prefer to believe the WHO, the UN, 180 national governments, The American Association for the Advancement of Science...
Quote
:laugh: Discreetly, eh? As in he has no proof but he "just knows" what they're thinking. Yet we know for a fact that Western environmentalists are always working with and helping the "natives". Millions saved with mosquito net campaigns for just one example.
Really, well here is another "lousy source" published in Forbes by Henry I. Miller, a physician, at the Robert Wesson Fellow of Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University's Hoover institution.
Miller was also the founding director of the FDA's Office of Biotechnology.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2012/09/05/rachel-carsons-deadly-fantasies/#6b9d1d1015d1
You go right ahead and keep believing the government stooges who have been bought and bullied by special interests. I'm sure they are motivated by the need to safeguard populations at risk. :001_rolleyes:
Leftist ideologues, professing concern for the integrity of the natural environment, collaborated to ban the use of the pesticide best known by the acronym DDT—the very substance that had made it possible to vanquish malaria from vast portions of the globe. By means of that ban, environmentalists effectively ensured that, over the course of the ensuing 30+ years, more than 50 million people would die needlessly of a disease that was entirely preventable.
No, it's been
Yeah, I'm seeing a typical trend. Mainstream scientists and media are having a reasonable discussion while right-wing crackpots are spouting the usual conspiracy theories. DDT is so safe you can eat it! nom nom nom
Quote
But Goldman said spraying DDT to control Zika would be "misguided and reckless."
"There are many pest control measures that potentially can be used, many of which are far more effective, now and in the long term, than DDT," she said via email.
Goldman said the pesticide is effective against the Anopheles mosquito, a night-biter that spreads malaria indoors while people are sleeping.
In many developing countries, DDT has proven effective when sprayed on the indoor walls of buildings.
"Basically the anopheles likes to rest on a wall surface between feedings and thus is poisoned by the DDT that is on the walls," Goldman said.
But the mosquito that transmits Zika is not the anopheles but another genus known as the Aedes, which also transmits dengue and chikungunya viruses, according to Goldman.
Aedes mosquitos bite outdoors, during the day, she said. Spraying walls with DDT won't help.
The best way to deal with aedes is by controlling its breeding and using products such as the popular insect repellent DEET, Goldman said.
Aedes mosquitos are difficult to control. They breed in the tiniest amount of water -- the cup formed by a large leaf, water in used tires or plant saucers, said Goldman.
Aedes also like urban, not rural areas, Goldman said. Successful control efforts have involved door-to-door campaigns to eliminate breeding areas.
The use of pesticides, especially DDT, to combat Zika must be considered with extreme care, Chevrier said.
"Using DDT now would result in exposure to local populations for decades," he said.
"In fact, DDE, a breakdown product from DDT, is still detected in the blood of a majority of Americans even though DDT was banned in the U.S. about 40 years ago."
//http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/health/zika-virus-ddt-what-you-need-to-know/
Miami's South Beach has been identified as a second site of Zika transmission by mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland, and containing it there will be difficult because high-rise buildings and strong winds make it impractical to spray the neighbourhood from the air, officials said today.
Five cases of Zika have been connected to mosquitoes in this area of Miami Beach, bringing the state's caseload to 36 infections unrelated to travel outside the U.S., Florida's governor and health department announced today.
The discovery prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to announce that it was expanding its travel warning for pregnant women to include the Miami Beach area - best known for nightclubs, pedestrian thoroughfares and beaches.
Quote from: "Shen Li"
Use the DDT and get it over with. Why are we even having this discussion while the virus spreads.
The news keeps getting worse:
Florida's governor just announced five new cases of Zika, including one in the Tampa Bay area, 265 miles (425 km) north of Miami.
Four other cases of the virus, which is often spread by mosquitoes, were found in Wynwood in Miami.
They just need to spray the entire state with DDT. There's no time to think about how stupid and useless it would be!
Quote from: "Romero"
:001_tongue:
Quote from: "Renee"
Okay, what is the solution then, smart guy?
Apparently the oxitec field trials of genetically modified males have been very successful in suppressing Aedes Aegypti mosquito populations. 80% to 90% population reductions. This solution makes WAY more sense than blanket DDT application.
Quote from: "JOE"
Not according to Factcheck.
GMOs Didn't Cause Zika Outbreak
Q: Did genetically modified mosquitoes cause the Zika outbreak?
A: No. In fact, GM mosquitoes may be able to help control the virus' spread.
FULL QUESTION
Any truth to Zika virus linked to genetically modified mosquitoes released through the Gates Foundation?
FULL ANSWER
The rumor that GM mosquitoes could be behind the Zika outbreak in Brazil began on Jan. 25 with a Reddit thread titled: "Genetically modified mosquitoes released in Brazil in 2015 linked to the current Zika epidemic?" Some media outlets, including Fox News, The Ecologist and The Daily Mail went on to spread the rumor. Some websites, such as Natural News, cited the involvement of Bill Gates. (The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided $19.7 million for a project to develop and test GM mosquitoes, according to Science.)
The initial Reddit post was a reaction to the Zika virus' spread through the Americas, including Brazil, and a rise in suspected cases of microcephaly, which can signify abnormal brain development. The Zika virus likely spread to Brazil around August 2014, as reported by the New York Times. As of Feb. 5 this year, the World Health Organization reported that Brazilian authorities estimate between 497,593 and 1,482,701 cases of Zika infection have occurred since the outbreak began. Zika is primarily spread by the Aedes mosquito.
The Aedes mosquito also spreads the dengue and chikungunya viruses. To reduce Aedes mosquito populations and combat these widespread viruses, a British biotech company called Oxitec genetically engineered male Aedes mosquitoes to produce offspring that die before they reach adulthood. This technique has been shown to reduce mosquito populations by 95 percent in some areas where Oxitec released the GM mosquitoes. And fewer mosquitoes mean less disease transmission.
Why do some claim GM mosquitoes caused the Zika outbreak? The initial Reddit contributor, who posted to a subreddit geared toward conspiracies, included three reasons: (1) The mosquitoes were released in the same area as Zika's epicenter; (2) some offspring will still survive and pass on their genes; and (3) GM mosquito and Zika genes will then mix, resulting in a super virus that causes microcephaly.
This is all false: (1) Oxitec released its mosquitoes 400 miles away from Zika's epicenter; (2) only a small percentage of offspring survive; and (3) there are no known ways for mosquito genes to infiltrate those of Zika.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/gmos-didnt-cause-zika-outbreak/
They just need to spray the entire USA and Canada with DDT. There is no time to think how stupid and useless it would be.
Quote from: "Lance Leftardashian"
No, time to think about how useless and stupid it would be? Just like carbon taxes, cap and trade and green power generation policies.
You are a real funny guy aintcha.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now recommending that all blood donations in the U.S. undergo testing for the Zika virus amid mounting concerns about how the disease is spread.
The sweeping new recommendation, announced this morning, underscores concerns within the medical community about the still relatively unknown virus.
Quote
Republicans in Congress have refused to pass funding to combat the Zika virus so Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) tried to make the threat real for his colleagues on Wednesday by showing up on the House floor with 100 mosquitoes from Florida.
"This is the reason for the urgency, this is the reason for the fear," Jolly said, holding up a jar of mosquitoes capable of carrying the Zika virus.
"Mr. Speaker, it is time to act," the Florida Republican insisted. "The politics of Zika have gone on far too long. The politics of Zika are wrong."
Jolly explained that Floridians were scared and angry about congressional inaction.
"I brought these mosquitoes today to convey that fear and that anxiety of millions of Americans, of Floridians," he remarked. "Can you imagine the fear and anxiety in this chamber if these mosquitoes were outside this jar, not inside this jar."
"Members of Congress would run down the hall to the physician's office to be tested. They would spray themselves before coming down here. This is the fear of Floridians! Right here!"
On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate blocked two bills that would fund a public health response to the Zika virus.
//http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/florida-republican-threatens-to-free-100-mosquitoes-on-house-floor-after-gopers-block-zika-funding/
A leftist editorial doesn't tell us how much it would cost and what will kind of results will it produce. Pick a real news source for a change.
Quote from: "Herman"
Sorry, what does "what will the result does it" mean?
Quote from: "Herman"
Fixed it.
Ah, thank you.
I will continue posting whatever I wish. Besides, it pleases me that it makes you so easily upset.
ac_smile
They could stop the zika virus in it's tracks tomomrrow, but as usual the NIMBY's are out in full force that the sky will fall.
Quote
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/392482351.html