Zika virus outbreak

waltky · Jul 5, 2016

Granny says, "Dat's right - freeze dey's lil' dingers off so's dey can't breed...

Military Freezing Mosquitoes to Guard Against Zika Virus
Jul 04, 2016 | Mosquitoes are being trapped and frozen at Fort Benning and other posts as part of the military's effort to combat the Zika virus that has infected at least 11 service members among more than 1,000 Americans.

Army Pvt. 1st Class Mary Pendris at Benning in Georgia near the Alabama line is among those troops on mosquito trapping duty to detect the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes whose bites can spread the virus which can cause birth defects, including microcephaly, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Once the mosquitoes are trapped at Benning, they are frozen and shipped to the Environmental Health Department of Preventative Medicine on the Georgia post, and then sent to the Army's Public Health Command-Atlantic at Fort Meade in Maryland for testing. "We haven't found any, at least not yet," of the Aedes aeqypti mosquitoes at Benning, although they are known to be present in the southeast, said Maj. Scott Robinson, chief of preventive medicine at Benning's Martin Army Community Hospital.

Dr. Robinson said that Benning and other Army posts have also been screening troops who have recently returned from South America and the Caribbean, where the Zika virus has hit hardest. He said that no cases of Zika have turned up yet among Benning troops but two cases of related infections also spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito dengue fever and Chikungunya virus have been found. Chikingunya can lead to fever lasting two to seven days and possible long-term joint pain. The symptoms of dengue are high fever, severe headache, severe pain behind the eyes, joint pain, muscle and bone pain, rash, and mild bleeding from the nose and gums, according to the CDC.

Matthew Aliota, assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, works with a strain of Aedes aegypti mosquito in a research lab.

Robinson said his only recourse if Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were found at Benning would be to summon post pest control to spray the area where they were trapped and restate already standing Army guidelines on prevention, including using approved repellents, wearing long-sleeved shirts and staying when possible in air conditioned areas. To date, at least 11 U.S. troops, four dependents of service members and two military retirees have been infected with the Zika virus since January, according to a Pentagon analysis last month first reported by USA Today. The troops infected were four soldiers, three Airmen, a Marine and three members of the Coast Guard.

Among the 17 service members, dependents and retirees were four women, but none was pregnant, said Dr. Jose Sanchez, deputy chief of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. Fifteen of the 17 recently traveled to the Caribbean or South America, which is the area of responsibility for U.S. Southern Command. In a roundtable session with Pentagon reporters last month, Adm. Kurt Tidd, the SouthCom commander, said his main effort against Zika in the region was to support research on a vaccine. As for U.S. service members and their families in SouthCom, "we pretty much rely on self-reporting," he said.

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waltky · Jul 21, 2016

Zika skeeters may be in Florida...

New US Zika Case May Be First in US Caused by Mosquito
July 20, 2016 - Health officials in Florida are analyzing a new Zika infection in the Miami area that they think may be the nation's first transmission of Zika from a mosquito bite.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Florida's Department of Health said this week that the Zika case had been confirmed, but that there were no links to transmission through travel. It has not been made clear whether the case could have originated from sexual contact with an infected person. Earlier this week, the CDC announced that the caregiver for an elderly Utah man who died of a Zika infection also had contracted the infection, although for the caregiver the case was not serious. The caregiver was not believed to have traveled to any areas that are affected by Zika, nor had sex with any infected person.

The CDC said the elderly patient had "uniquely high amounts of virus" in his blood more than 100,000 times higher than seen in blood samples from other infected people. Health authorities are investigating how the caregiver might have contracted the infection from the older victim. Zika has been detected in bodily fluids including semen, blood, urine and breast milk.

Robert Muxo of Miami-Dade County mosquito control, takes a sample of water that was standing in a potted plant in Miami, June 21, 2016. Health officials are concerned about the spread of the Zika virus in the U.S., which is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

The man who died caught the virus while traveling abroad. He was the first person in the United States to die after becoming infected. Officials said the exact cause of his death was not clear because the man was elderly and had an underlying heath condition. Zika is spread primarily through mosquito bites. Experts are especially concerned about infected mosquitoes biting pregnant women. They say this can cause microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by smaller-than-average head size and possible deficiency in brain development.

http://www.voanews.com/content/united-states-zika-case-first-nation-caused-mosquito/3427858.html
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waltky · Aug 2, 2016

Zika alert around Miami...

CDC Advises Pregnant Women to Avoid One Square Mile of Miami
August 2, 2016 - The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is telling pregnant women to avoid a one-square mile area in Miami, Florida where Zika-carrying mosquitos are known to be present.

The one-square-mile zone surrounds a specific 500-foot area where 12 cases of Zika infection have now been diagnosed, mostly in men. "Mosquitoes only fly about 500 feet maximum in their entire life," CDC Director Tom Friedan told Fox News on Monday. "So, there's actually a small area within that one-mile block where we have seen all of the cases. But Florida and we with our emergency response team will be looking to see if there are additional cases. "But it's very important for any pregnant woman anywhere in the Southern U.S., where there are this type of mosquito present, to use mosquito repellent and protect herself from mosquito bites."

Interestingly, the travel "guidance" posted on the CDC website does not say what specific area in Miami pregnant women should avoid. But the Miami Herald identified it as Wynwood, which it described as "an urban neighborhood tightly packed with aging homes bordering a busy commercial district." Friedan explained that mosquitos spread Zika by biting someone who carries the virus, then biting and infecting someone else. "It doesn't get into the mosquito population. It's not in nature, in the environment, as, for example, the West Nile virus is. So it's a very different entity than other mosquito-borne diseases."

Frieden said a vaccine is at least a year or two away, and in the meantime, the best way to slow Zika's spread is to kill the mosquitoes that carry it: "But we have ways to control mosquitoes, and we also need to work on that, because mosquito control can protect us not just against Zika, but against other infections as well. And even with a vaccine, we are going to need better ways to track and control mosquitoes." Frieden said if pregnant women have been to the neighborhood in question, they should see their doctor and get tested for Zika. Men infected with the virus can spread it to women.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...es-pregnant-women-avoid-one-square-mile-miami
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waltky · Aug 3, 2016

First clinical trial of a Zika vaccine...

U.S. health researchers test Zika vaccine as funds run low
August 3, 2016 | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday they have begun their first clinical trial of a Zika vaccine while the Obama administration told lawmakers funds to fight the virus would run out in the coming weeks due to congressional inaction.

U.S. concerns over Zika, which is spreading rapidly in the Americas and has hit Brazil the hardest, have risen since Florida authorities last week reported the first signs of local transmission in the continental United States in a Miami neighborhood. There is no approved vaccine or drug for Zika, a virus spreading rapidly in the Americas that can cause the birth defect microcephaly, marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. A number of companies and academic groups are racing to develop a Zika vaccine, which is not expected to be ready for widespread use for at least two to three years.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health federal research agency, said its early-stage clinical trial will involve at least 80 healthy volunteers ages 18 to 35 at three study sites. It said the trial will evaluate the experimental DNA-based vaccine's safety and ability to elicit an immune system response. "A safe and effective vaccine to prevent Zika virus infection and the devastating birth defects it causes is a public health imperative," NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a statement. U.S. vaccine maker Inovio Pharmaceuticals in June won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to begin testing its Zika vaccine in humans. It began its clinical trial last month, aiming to enroll 40 healthy adult volunteers in Miami, Philadelphia and Quebec City.

A pair of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are seen during a mating ritual while the female feeds on a blood meal

President Barack Obama in February asked the Republican-led Congress for about $1.9 billion in emergency funds to combat Zika domestically and abroad, but lawmakers have not passed funding legislation. A $1.1 billion compromise failed after House of Representatives Republicans attached language that would place restrictions on abortion and defund part of Obama's signature 2010 healthcare law. The administration has redirected $374 million from other health initiatives including combating the Ebola virus for stopgap Zika funding. Obama's health and human services secretary, Sylvia Burwell, told top congressional appropriators in a letter that the NIH will exhaust $47 million in repurposed funding by the end of the month.

She said without additional funding, the second phase of the NIH vaccine clinical trial would have to be delayed, which could prolong the development process. "In addition, research and development of other vaccine candidates, diagnostics, therapeutics and (mosquito) vector control technologies may be constrained," Burwell wrote. She said the component within her department that provides funding to private-sector partners to develop medicines and vaccines will exhaust its $85 million in repurposed funding by the end of August. She said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would virtually exhaust its $222 million in repurposed funds for its domestic Zika response by the end of September.

TEXAS ON HIGH ALERT
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waltky · Aug 5, 2016

Fightin' fire with fire...

U.S. closer to testing engineered mosquitoes that could fight Zika
Fri Aug 5, 2016 - U.S. health regulators have cleared the way for a trial of genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida that can reduce mosquito populations, potentially offering a new tool to fight the local spread of Zika and other viruses.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that a field trial testing Intrexon Corp's (XON.N) genetically engineered mosquitoes would not have a significant impact on the environment. The announcement came as Florida officials grapple with the first cases of local Zika transmission in the continental United States. Florida health authorities have identified 16 Zika cases spread by local mosquitoes and are ramping up aerial pesticide spraying of a Miami neighborhood where all of the people are believed to have been infected. Pregnant women are most at risk from Zika, which can cause a rare birth defect in fetuses called microcephaly. The Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil and has spread rapidly in the Americas, primarily through mosquito bite. Intrexon's Oxitec unit has been working for years to kick off a trial in the Florida Keys to assess the effectiveness of its mosquitoes to reduce levels of the insects that carry diseases, including Zika, dengue, Yellow Fever and chikungunya.

The Oxitec method involves inserting an engineered gene into male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. When they mate with female mosquitoes in the wild, they produce offspring that cannot survive to adulthood. The FDA has been reviewing Oxitec's application for use of its technology as an investigational new animal drug. Its environmental assessment helps clear the way for the company to begin a clinical trial in Key Haven, Florida that would test whether the genetically modified mosquitoes will suppress the wild populations over time. Results of that trial would be used to support approval of the company's technology, a process that could take more than a year. Similar testing in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands have shown that the Oxitec mosquitoes can reduce local Aedes aegypti populations by more than 90 percent.

'THEY ARE USING US'

To begin the trial, however, the company must first await the results of a vote in the Nov. 8 general election seeking community approval for the trial. Oxitec Chief Executive Hadyn Parry said in a conference call that the vote is non-binding, and the decision about whether to proceed is up to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, the local body responsible for mosquito control. Community support in the vote is not guaranteed. In Key Haven, a suburb of large, waterfront homes near Key West where the trial is slated to take place, yard signs have popped up declaring "no consent" to the release of genetically modified mosquitoes. Kathryn Watkins, a Key Haven resident recruited by trial opponents, is seeking election to the board overseeing the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. "It just has everyone scared," Watkins said, adding that local residents see themselves as unwilling test subjects. "The genetically modified male has to mate with a wild female, and the wild female has to bite us in order to lay eggs," she said. "They are using us in this trial without consent," she added.

As his company awaits the vote, Parry said he intends to ask the FDA for an emergency-use authorization that would make the product available to help battle Zika in the United States. The FDA has approved several diagnostic products under this designation. But it is not likely to be granted under current statutes. FDA spokeswoman Theresa Eisenman said there is no "fast-track" designation for new animal drugs, and emergency-use provisions in the applicable law do not apply to animal drugs. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over Zika's link to microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems. The agency has suggested that alternative approaches to fighting mosquitoes that carry the virus might be an important way to suppress mosquito populations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-usa-idUSKCN10G241
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waltky · Aug 14, 2016

Zika state of emergency declared in Puerto Rico...

US Declares State of Emergency in Puerto Rico for Zika Virus
August 13, 2016 - The U.S. government declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico on Friday responding to widespread transmission of the Zika virus.

Following his visit to the island territory this week, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy predicted that one fourth of Puerto Rico's 3.5 million residents will be infected by the end of 2016. Puerto Rico reported 1,914 new cases in the past week, bringing the total to 10,690 since the first case reported in December. More than 1, 000 of the total cases have been pregnant women.

But experts fear the real number of infections may be higher. As many as eight of 10 people show no symptoms when infected and thus would not go to the doctor.

An Aedes aegypti mosquito sits inside a glass tube at the Fiocruz institute where they have been screening for mosquitos naturally infected with the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The state of emergency, requested by Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, will allow the U.S. to allocate emergency funding to combat the virus in Puerto Rico, as well as deploy medical staff. "Zika poses a hidden threat to future generations of Puerto Ricans, and I feel the responsibility to do everything in my power to fight the spread of it," Padilla said.

Although the virus is relatively mild in most cases, pregnant women who are infected with Zika risk giving birth to babies with a congenital defect called microcephaly, which causes an abnormally small head.

http://www.voanews.com/a/us-declares-state-of-emergency-in-puerto-rico-for-zika/3463010.html
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waltky · Aug 30, 2016

Zika may cause hearing loss...

Study: Zika Linked to Hearing Loss
August 30, 2016 - Add hearing loss to the list of health problems that could be caused by the Zika virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday, saying that out of nearly 70 children infected with the virus, four had hearing loss that appeared to be unconnected with any other health issue. This, the researchers say, could mean the hearing problems stem from Zika as the issue appears to be caused by damage to the nerve that links the ear with the brain.

Zika is known to cause a form of birth defect called microcephaly, meaning having an abnormally small head. It has also been linked to vision problems and brain damage. There have been nearly 700 confirmed Zika cases in the United States. These include more than 60 pregnant women. One Zika-related case of microcephaly was confirmed in the island state of Hawaii.

An Aedes aegypti mosquito sits inside a glass tube at the Fiocruz institute where they have been screening for mosquitos naturally infected with the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In Puerto Rico fear over Zika is stunting the growth of tourism, the only industry that was starting to flourish as the island teeters on financial collapse amid a decade-long economic crisis.

Health officials say in the U.S., the virus has been reported mostly in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa; but, they say they believe it is spreading in the continental U.S. The study’s authors suggest that babies with suspected Zika exposure should undergo hearing tests, even if there have been no indications of a problem.

Zika’s effects on adults are relatively mild, with nearly 80 percent of infected adults reportedly having no symptoms. The remaining 20 percent reported mild symptoms such as a fever and rash. The study was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

http://www.voanews.com/a/mht-zika-linked-to-hearing-loss/3486707.html
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Researchers Find Drug Compounds to Target Zika
August 29, 2016 - Researchers in the United States have identified a number of drug compounds that stop the spread of the Zika virus, potentially protecting pregnant women and their unborn babies from the mosquito-borne illness. One of the compounds already is used to treat tapeworms.

Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health screened a library of 6,000 existing drugs and experimental compounds. Then, investigators at Florida State University in Tallahassee and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore tested the drugs. The compounds were shown to block the ability of the Zika virus to kill cells and to keep the microbe from reproducing within infected cells. Both classes of compounds were neuro-protective, showing activity in fetal brain cells affected by microcephaly. They include neural progenitor cells that contribute to the development of the fetal brain. Scientists found that the compounds work either before or after exposure to Zika, and that they are most effective when more than one is used at the same time. Discovery of the compounds was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Power of suppression

Hengli Tang, Florida State University Biological Sciences professor and researcher, said that if and when the drugs become available, they would be used to thwart transmission and would not be used in pregnant women. "But even if you can treat Zika-infected men or non-pregnant women, you can still have the ... potential to cut down transmission,” Tang said, “because with the suppression of viral replication, you reduce the amount of virus that's in an infected person and that can reduce the chance of transmission by mosquito bites or sexually."

A natural resources officer with Broward County Mosquito Control, looks through a microscope at Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Pembroke Pines, Florida

Earlier this year, Tang's team was the first to show how Zika caused microcephaly. The search is urgent for a drug to treat Zika or to prevent transmission of the virus, which can cause microcephaly in developing fetuses. Babies with microcephaly are born with abnormally small heads and brains, causing a host of disabilities. The disease already has infected thousands of pregnant women from Brazil through North America. In people who are not pregnant, the virus causes relatively minor flu-like symptoms, but also can cause a rare neurological disease in adults called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Hope in ‘repurposed’ drugs

Because at least one of the promising drugs already is approved by U.S. regulators, doctors could prescribe now, though it is not known how much of the compound should be given or how often. Tang said it is possible researchers eventually could formulate the drugs to give to pregnant women. "If a compound is modified and the anti-viral is modified so it's safe to use in pregnancy,” Tang said, “then the mechanism of the anti-viral would be to reduce the virus to a low enough level that it will have a much lower or zero chance of getting to the fetus to begin with. And that's sort of the idea of an anti-viral." The compounds have been what scientists called "repurposed," meaning they already have received regulatory approval for use or testing in humans for other disorders. That could speed the time it takes to get Zika drugs to the public. Even so, Tang predicts it might be two more years before that happens.

http://www.voanews.com/a/researchers-find-drug-compounds-target-zika/3485505.html
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US Study: Adult Mosquitoes Can Pass Zika to Their Offspring
August 29, 2016 — Adult female mosquitoes can pass the Zika virus along to their offspring, U.S. researchers said Monday, a finding that makes clear the need for pesticide programs that kill both adult mosquitoes and their eggs.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, show that as with many related viruses, including dengue and yellow fever, Zika can be transmitted from female mosquitoes to their offspring. Dr. Robert Tesh of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, a study co-author, said the fact that the virus can be passed along to mosquito offspring makes Zika harder to control. "Spraying affects adults, but it does not usually kill the immature forms — the eggs and larvae. Spraying will reduce transmission, but it may not eliminate the virus," he said.

Although Zika generally causes mild illness in adults, it is a major threat to pregnant women because it has been shown to cause the severe birth defect known as microcephaly and other brain abnormalities. The ongoing Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. Aedes aegypti, the mosquitoes that carry Zika, lay eggs in small containers of water. Homeowners have been advised to dump out containers of water on their properties. When the water is dumped, the eggs cling in a ring around the water line, where they remain dormant until the next rain, when they can hatch.

Mosquito larvae are seen inside Sun Yat-Sen University-Michigan State University Joint Center of Vector Control for Tropical Disease, the world’s largest "mosquito factory," which breeds millions of bacteria-infected mosquitoes in the fight against the spread of viruses, in Guangzhou, China

Scientists studying Zika wanted to find out whether some of the offspring from these tropical mosquitoes might carry the virus, helping to perpetuate an outbreak during dry seasons. To find out, researchers injected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes raised in a laboratory with Zika. They were then fed, and within a week, they laid eggs. The team collected and cared for the eggs until they hatched into adult mosquitoes, and counted the ones that carried the Zika virus. They found the virus present in one out of every 290 mosquitoes tested. "The ratio may sound low," Tesh said, "but when you consider the number of Aedes aegypti in a tropical urban community, it is likely high enough to allow some virus to persist, even when infected adult mosquitoes are killed."

Tesh said the next step is to show that mosquitoes are actually passing Zika to their offspring in the wild. Experts fighting Zika in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami have announced aerial spraying campaigns using pesticides that kill both adult mosquitoes and mosquito larvae. For homeowners in affected areas, Tesh advised people to dump standing water from containers on their property and scrub them thoroughly to remove eggs and larvae. They should also remove any objects from their yards that could collect water.

http://www.voanews.com/a/adult-mosquitoes-pass-zika-offspring-us-study/3485981.html
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waltky · Sep 9, 2016

Health experts worried a "large epidemic" is looming...

Doctors say Haiti Ripe for Large Zika Outbreak, Virus Under-reported
September 08, 2016 Posters warning of the dangers of Zika only reached Haiti's health ministry in August, six months after the country reported an outbreak, in one example of delayed prevention efforts that have health experts worried a "large epidemic" is looming.

Gabriel Thimothe, a senior health ministry official, said the public service posters would be distributed to hospitals and airports shortly, but that health funding had been cut this year and foreign aid was sparse to fight the mosquito-borne virus that can cause severe birth defects. Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a defect in which babies' heads and brains are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities. Widespread fumigation that has limited the virus' spread in other Caribbean nations such as Cuba only began in Haiti last month. Publicity campaigns have been all but invisible and hospital workers were on strike for much of the year. "We're expecting a large epidemic but we don't know when it will occur," said Jean-Luc Poncelet, the World Health Organization's representative in Haiti. "There is under-reporting."

Workers of the Ministry of Public Health and Population fumigate a street during a campaign against mosquito breeding to prevent Zika in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Such an epidemic could severely strain Haiti's fragile healthcare system, battered by an earthquake in 2010 that killed 300,000, and still struggling with a cholera epidemic that has sickened nearly 800,000 people. WHO data show 5,000 suspected cases have been reported in more prosperous neighbor Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and has a similar population and climate. Haiti by contrast, has reported 3,000 suspected cases, according to numbers shared by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That makes Haiti's Zika infection rate about 30 per 100,000 people, compared to 82 per 100,000 in Brazil, where the connection between Zika and microcephaly was first detected, and 50 per 100,000 in Dominican Republic The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has since confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly.

Rainy Season

In the Dominican Republic there were spikes in infections in March and May, broadly coinciding with rainy seasons on both sides of the island, a time when mosquitoes and diseases they carry normally flourish. In Haiti, the number of cases reported each week generally dropped from February through the rains. A long strike by medical residents at most public hospitals coincided with that decline, raising the question of whether there were fewer infections or a lack of health workers available to register cases. A Zika task force, which includes the government and non-governmental organizations, was formed in May, Thimothe said. Several U.S. health officials in Haiti told Reuters that the United States provided $3 million in August to combat Zika in the country, money that was initially intended to be deployed against Ebola in West Africa. Thimothe said the impact of an explosion of microcephaly cases would be devastating, but denied the condition was more widespread than thought, even though many Haitian women give birth at home rather than in clinics.

A woman is reflected in a puddle on a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

His position is supported by WHO data through June, which did not show an uptick in microcephaly or Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder that can cause temporary paralysis and has also been linked to Zika. But Louise Ivers, the senior health and policy advisor for Partners in Health, which along with Haitian organization Zanmi Lasante runs a hospital in the central town of Mirebalais, said she had seen at least 12 cases this year of Guillain-Barre, normally a rare condition. The same hospital registered two microcephaly cases, including one confirmed to be linked to Zika, this summer. "Maybe we are too late for prevention. Maybe we just have to manage the consequences," Ivers said. "This could just be the tip of the iceberg."

http://www.voanews.com/a/doctors-sa...ka-outbreak-virus-under-reported/3499315.html
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waltky · Sep 11, 2016

Zika outbreak showing up in Asia...

Thailand finds 21 new cases of Zika in Bangkok, including pregnant woman
September 11, 2016 - Twenty-one new cases of locally-transmitted Zika virus have been confirmed in central Bangkok, including a pregnant woman who later gave birth with no complications, Thailand's public health ministry said on Sunday.

Residents in the Thai capital were urged not to be alarmed after the cases were confirmed in the Sathorn area of the city, an up-market neighborhood popular with the city's expatriate community and part of the capital's business district. "Of the 21 cases confirmed in the Sathorn area there was one pregnant woman who recovered and gave birth successfully," Ministry of Public Health spokesman Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai told Reuters by telephone. "Mother and newborn are safe," he said, adding that the pregnant woman's husband had recently returned from Singapore. Thailand first recorded the Zika virus in 2012 and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority conducts regular testing for the virus.

The new Thai cases follow confirmation from Malaysia on Wednesday of its first case of the Zika virus in a pregnant woman, a 27-year-old living in a southern city next to Singapore. Island city-state Singapore reported its first locally infected Zika patient on Aug. 27 and since then, the number of reported infections has swelled to more than 300. Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized, besides other brain abnormalities. Suwannachai said that 30 pregnant women with Zika were being monitored in Thailand. So far, six of the women had given birth without complications or any birth defects.

Sixteen out of Thailand's 76 provinces have confirmed cases of Zika since January this year, according to the health ministry, but no birth defects or deaths have been reported. "There have been no deaths or complications so far, so I urge our brothers and sisters not to be alarmed," said Suwannachai. Although microcephaly is typically detected during ultrasounds in the late second and early third trimester of pregnancy, it can be detected as early as 18-20 weeks gestation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thailand...gkok-including-pregnant-052949912.html?ref=gs
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WHO Calls on Asia to Guard Against Zika
September 09, 2016 The World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped up its warning for Southeast Asia to guard against the threat posed by the mosquito-borne Zika virus, amid mounting concerns in the region of the impact to local populations.

Roderico Ofrin, WHO regional emergencies director for Southeast Asia, said countries need to adopt effective surveillance and reporting systems to closely monitor the spread of the disease. WHO is working with countries across the South East Asia region to continue to prevent, detect ,and respond to Zika virus transmission, Ofrin said in emailed comments to VOA.

Illness surveillance

The strategy emphasizes the ongoing importance of enhancing vector control; strengthening Zika virus and birth-defect surveillance, scaling up laboratory capacity and amplifying risk communication and community engagement, he said. A report in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal identified India, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia as high-risk countries, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, Angola has faced increased risks due to its historical ties with Brazil. The Lancet warned that at least 2.6 billion people over a third of the global population, living in Africa, Asia and the Pacific were vulnerable to the Zika virus.

Pregnant women at risk

At most risk are pregnant women. Becoming infected with a virus strain now impacting populations in South America can result in child birth defects, especially microcephaly, affecting normal development of an infants head. The virus is also transmitted through sexual contact, blood transfusions and from mother to child, and has been linked to muscle weakening and paralysis due to damaged nerve cells known as Guillain-Barre syndrome. South America has borne the brunt of the virus severe impact, especially Brazil, where hundreds of cases of microcephaly have been confirmed since the outbreak in 2015. Southeast Asian governments have stepped up surveillance and detection of the virus in communities, with chemical sprays over areas known as breeding grounds for the Aedes mosquito.

A pregnant couple walk together at a potential zika cluster in Singapore

Singapore has reported more than 240 Zika cases, while Malaysia and Thailand have also reported infections. Travel warnings have also been posted by the United States, Britain, Australia and Taiwan, warning pregnant women against nonessential travel. But Asian-based scientists say the latest outbreak has left many questions unanswered. A strain of the Zika virus has been embedded in Asia for many years and associated with a mild fever, rash and joint pains, which doctors say pass after a week of treatment. The Zika virus, as a result, has received less attention than more virulent diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.

Monitoring breeding grounds
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waltky · Sep 14, 2016

Will they turn down Louisiana too?...

Zika money 'essentially all spent': US doctors
Wednesday 14th September, 2016: Money to fight the spread of Zika virus in the United States is "essentially all spent," top US doctors said Tuesday (Sep 13), urging Congress to come to agreement on new funding measures.

The United States and its territories have recorded more than 19,600 Zika infections, and Florida is seeing a rise in locally transmitted cases of the virus which is particularly dangerous for pregnant women because it can cause microcephaly, an irreversible deformation of the brain and skull, in infants. Already, 18 babies have been born with Zika-related birth defects in the United States, said Beth Bell, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

However, a US$1.1 billion funding bill was rejected last week for the third time by US Senate Democrats, after Republicans inserted language that would end funding for a major abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, leading doctors from the CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics warned that critical elements of the public health response and research on vaccines may come to a halt by month's end. "Funding for Zika research, for prevention and for control efforts - including mosquito surveillance and control - is essentially all spent," said Bell. "Without additional resources from Congress, critical public health work may not be accomplished."

She said lawmakers have provided no funds for health authorities in the next fiscal year, which begins in October. "There will be severely limited capacity to support mosquito control and surveillance, no funds to conduct multi-year studies needed to protect pregnant women by better understanding the link between Zika disease and birth defects, and no support to states and territories like Florida and Puerto Rico to manage cases of Zika-diagnosed patients and increase lab capacity," Bell warned.

Important work on vaccine research may be suspended or cancelled, and efforts to devise better tests for Zika will also be slowed or stopped altogether, she said. "Allowing this to happen needlessly puts the American people at risk and will result in more Zika infections and potentially more babies being born with microcephaly and other birth defects."

POLITICAL BATTLE
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White House asks Congress for $2.6 billion to help Louisiana
September 13, 2016 | WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration asked Congress on Tuesday for $2.6 billion to help Louisiana rebuild from disastrous floods that have ravaged the state.

The White House request is for rebuilding damaged homes and infrastructure, helping small businesses and funding community development projects. It comes as Gov. John Bel Edwards returns to Washington to press the case for money to help Louisiana. Tuesday evening's letter from White House budget chief Shaun Donovan asked Congress to "provide additional funding to address Louisiana's unmet housing and infrastructure needs as soon as possible."

On Monday, Edwards upped his aid request to $2.8 billion. He has the backing of Louisiana's GOP-dominated congressional delegation. It is likely too late for the administration request to be included in a stopgap spending measure under development that's required to prevent a government shutdown at month's end. But additional spending legislation that is expected to advance in December is more likely to include the money.

Last month's floods have displaced tens thousands of people from their homes. More than 140,000 individuals have registered for government help. Donovan said 73,000 families are receiving temporary housing assistance at a cost of more than $600 million, paid for from existing Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. Edwards is expected to meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., during his Washington visit.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-ho...-billion-help-020101085--politics.html?ref=gs
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Clash1122 · Apr 3, 2017

Great Share and I thought I should share what I found on the web about what should one do while visiting Zika Infected Country. You need to take precautionery measures, read this article-> What To Do Before Visiting Zika Infected Country

waltky · Jan 27, 2018

More Birth Defects in US Areas With Zika...

Health Officials: More Birth Defects in US Areas With Zika
January 26, 2018 — The mosquito-born Zika virus may be responsible for an increase in birth defects in U.S. states and territories even in women who had no lab evidence of Zika exposure during pregnancy, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

Areas in which the mosquito-borne virus has been circulating, including Puerto Rico, southern Florida and part of south Texas, saw a 21 percent rise in birth defects strongly linked with Zika in the last half of 2016 compared with the first half of that year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly report on death and disease. Researchers said it was not clear if the increase was due to local transmission of Zika alone or if there were other contributing factors. The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil in 2015 and spread through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, eye abnormalities and nerve damage resulting in joint problems and deafness.

An Aedes aegypti mosquito known to carry the Zika virus, is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Brazil

For the report, the CDC examined existing birth defect reporting systems in 14 U.S. states and Puerto Rico to look for birth defects possibly associated with Zika. They divided these areas into three groups: places with local Zika transmission, places with higher levels of travel-associated Zika, and places with lower rates of travel-related Zika. Overall, they found three cases of birth defects potentially related to Zika per 1,000 live births out of 1 million births in 2016, about the same as the prior reporting period in 2013-2014.

When they looked specifically in areas with local Zika transmission and looked only at birth defects most strongly linked with Zika, they saw an increase. "We saw this significant 21 percent increase in the birth defects most strongly linked to Zika in parts of the U.S. that had local transmission of Zika," Peggy Honein, an epidemiologist and chief of the CDC's Birth Defects Branch, said in a telephone interview. "The only area where we saw this increase was in the jurisdictions that had local transmission." CDC researchers anticipate another increase in possible Zika-related birth defects when 2017 data are analyzed because many pregnant women exposed to Zika in late 2016 gave birth in 2017.

https://www.voanews.com/a/health-officials-more-birth-defects-us-areas-zika/4226559.html
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Clash1122 · Mar 17, 2019

Clash1122 said: ↑

Great Share and I thought I should share what I found on the web about what should one do while visiting Zika Infected Country. You need to take precautionery measures, read this article-> What To Do Before Visiting Zika Infected Country
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