Warning to Families and Couples in Tropical Americas: Zika Spreading Fast.

[EllesBelles]

The head of the World Health Organization recently gave a very strong warning when she said that the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that may cause birth defects when pregnant women are infected, has been “spreading explosively” in South and Central America.

The WHO's director-general said the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.
“The level of alarm is extremely high,”WHO director general Margaret Chan said Thursday in an email according to Bloomberg.



Chan said she will convene an emergency meeting on Feb. 1 in Geneva to consider whether to declare the outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” which can coordinate government responses to direct money and resources at the virus. She added that the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.

Bloomberg adds that according to Chan researchers are working to determine the exact link between the virus and birth defects such as microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and potential developmental problems. “The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika, from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,” Chan told members of the WHO executive board in Switzerland.


A report from Reuters said that according to the WHO, the Zika virus may affect "between three million and four million people" eventually.



The WHO also added that it wants to prevent inappropriate trade or travel limits due to Zika, but it may be too late for that:

The WHO said it is working to increase surveillance and diagnosis of the virus to spot new cases. Public health officials may also work on methods of mosquito control, hoping to control the virus’s spread by reducing the vector it uses to travel from host to new victim.

That could be difficult because of the El Nino weather pattern, Chan said, which will bring unusually heavy rains, creating puddles and pools where the bugs can breed.

The new threat is that the virus, which has long been present in Africa and equatorial Asia, has spread to 23 countries in the Americas, according to the WHO. While many populations where the virus has long been present have immunity, that’s not the case in newly affected areas, which has raised the agency’s level of concern.

[Alan Mighty]

Thailand: "only about five cases of the (Zika) virus were reported each year (since 2012)". See: Zika virus found, but no outbreak | Bangkok Post: news





Malaysia: Zika virus found in Malaysia since 1969 "It may have come from Africa or (it) could be native to our country and found in our monkeys and mosquitoes”. See: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/natio...ar-to-dengues/

[Alan Mighty]

Tonga: Zika epidemic declared. See: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-04/tonga-declares-zika-epidemic/7141260

[PlumKrazy]

I understand that awareness is important, but isn't the common cold a much more dangerous threat in general?

Just for reference: NY Times About Zika (Be sure to read the q&a below the vid)

As for Microcephaly, if that's a concern, there are 25,000 cases of it a year in the United States alone from natural/other causes already. Not related to anything. Just wouldn't want anyone to be overly fearful about an epidemic.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by PlumKrazy

I understand that awareness is important, but isn't the common cold a much more dangerous threat in general?

Just for reference: NY Times About Zika (Be sure to read the q&a below the vid)

As for Microcephaly, if that's a concern, there are 25,000 cases of it a year in the United States alone from natural/other causes already. Not related to anything. Just wouldn't want anyone to be overly fearful about an epidemic.

They still have not established a connection between the two from what I can gather..
Could this just be another case of diverting the worlds attention back to the Self..

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by boatman61

They still have not established a connection between the two from what I can gather..
Could this just be another case of diverting the worlds attention back to the Self..

An association between Zika virus and microcephaly has been accepted.

Association is not causality. But causality cannot exist without an association.

Remember the case of rubella virus: an association between rubella virus and what now is called 'congenital rubella syndrome' existed since the 1940s. Causality was, from memory, not proven until the use of a vaccine against rubella. Hey presto, the incidence of CRS disappeared, leading to the 'presumption' of causality. Since then (mid to late 1960s), DNA work on the rubivirus, especially when a novel strain of the rubivirus has been introduced into a population with no history of that strain, has proven the causality.

Although Zika virus has been known of since 1947, we're still in the early days of knowing anything about it. The number of published science and medical science papers on Zika is tiny, only in the hundreds.

[Alan Mighty]

Blood transfusion: "Two people in southeastern Brazil contracted the Zika virus through blood transfusions" see: Brazil health official confirms Zika spread via transfusion - The Mainichi

[moepitman]

Originally Posted by PlumKrazy

I understand that awareness is important, but isn't the common cold a much more dangerous threat in general?

Just for reference: NY Times About Zika (Be sure to read the q&a below the vid)

As for Microcephaly, if that's a concern, there are 25,000 cases of it a year in the United States alone from natural/other causes already. Not related to anything. Just wouldn't want anyone to be overly fearful about an epidemic.

Though most people seem to show mild or no symptoms, there is also a correlation to Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Reference: French researcher says Zika link to Guillain-Barre Syndrome is 'almost certain' | McClatchy DC

Having experienced Guillain-Barre myself, I can assure you it is no joke. Paralysis, weeks in the hospital, financial disaster, and six months recovery time while on high-dose steroids. It was no picnic.

[PlumKrazy]

Originally Posted by moepitman

Though most people seem to show mild or no symptoms, there is also a correlation to Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Reference: French researcher says Zika link to Guillain-Barre Syndrome is 'almost certain' | McClatchy DC

Having experienced Guillain-Barre myself, I can assure you it is no joke. Paralysis, weeks in the hospital, financial disaster, and six months recovery time while on high-dose steroids. It was no picnic.

I can only imagine what that must've been like. I have read some info about Guillain-Barre and understand that it is a horrible affliction.

Again, I know awareness is important, I just feel that causing anyone to be overly fearful about Zika because of a tiny number of extreme cases relative to how many people there are in the world should be prevented as well.

I have a great article about Guillain-Barre and its prevalence in Zika cases that I wanted to post for everyone's reading pleasure:

What is Guillain-Barre Syndrome and is it caused by the Zika Virus?

I would like to pull one paragraph in particular from the article to put this in better perspective though. Sometimes those perpetuating news frenzies fail to realize that people really just need to know how it will affect them personally.

Originally Posted by Steven Maltby in the above article:

It is important to note that it still has not been demonstrated that Zika infection actually causes Guillain-Barré syndrome. Further, even if all cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome reported in El Salvador were caused by Zika infection, only about one in 100 infected people develop Guillain-Barré syndrome. This ignores all of the cases due to other causes.

To summarize everything; This means that if all possible causes of Guillain-Barre Syndrome are ignored and all cases are assumed to be linked to Zika, there would be a 1 in 100 chance for someone to develop such symptoms if they are infected by a mosquito carrying the virus.

Please keep in mind also that it is likely that because we aren't sure how many people actually won't show symptoms, the likelihood of developing Guillan-Barre won't be higher than 1 in 500. That's absolute worst case scenario. (Only 60-80 percent of Zika victims actually show symptoms at all.
-Resource- )

Essentially, based off of this information, it is likely that no one reading this thread will ever hear about their friends being afflicted by Guillain-Barre or even Zika, assuming that everyone in the world will eventually be infected, (Completely unrealistic).

Sidenote: It makes me happy to think that whenever a person contracts Zika they become immune to the disease from then on, after recovering. I wonder if children will actually be immune as well if their mothers contract it while pregnant? (I'm sure that speculation won't show up in the news.)

Might be helpful to also mention that in the case of El Salvador in particular, there are no known cases of microcephaly resulting from zika as of January 30th, 2016. (El Salvador has approximately 6.34 million citizens and only 122 cases of pregnant women who are being carefully watched for signs of microcephaly -Resource- )

Disclaimer? I'm not a doctor, just like to research and compile useful information.

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Thailand: "only about five cases of the (Zika) virus were reported each year (since 2012)". See: Zika virus found, but no outbreak | Bangkok Post: news





Malaysia: Zika virus found in Malaysia since 1969 "It may have come from Africa or (it) could be native to our country and found in our monkeys and mosquitoes”. See: ‘Zika virus found in Malaysia in 1969’ - Nation | The Star Online

Didn't they talk about Aids originating from primates?

[Ribbit]

As mosquito bites really do mess me up (I seem to be particularly vulnerable in the first few weeks of acclimatising in hot climates, then they leave me alone), I admit I am wary, and in the process of taking precautions (I have a large 50% DEET bottle on its way, plus 3 very large mosquito net 'tents' - 1 of which I will trim some off for screens, plus will get zappers, and thanks for the reminder as I had forgotten about it, permethrin), after being driven into an expensive hotel for air conditioning relief for a week to recover from ones down in Valencia (from rice paddys there). So I've been keeping an eye open for any pertinent info.

As a result, there's something interesting that's been mentioned in a few places - to the effect that the only place where this microcephaly is happening, is Brazil, and it DOESN'T appear to be linked to Zika. It's suggested that the real link to microcephaly in Brazil, is a vaccination programme that took place there in the right time frame, with apparently the targets for vaccination, being pregnant women. Now bad enough as that itself would be, if confirmed, it could be a massive reassurance to people all around the World that have not had that vaccination.

So it would be interesting if anyone comes across information on this, along with sources?

As for drink and preventing mosquito bites (and malaria anyway), some may need to look up why Gin & Tonic came into being.

[barnakiel]

Wiki is I think correct but late with data from countries that are not English speaking. E.g. Wiki quotes 8 cases in Martinique while French sources gave over 2000 cases by Jan 31 (they report on 10th, 20th and 30th of each month). Wiki (English) does not use these sources.

Also Brazilian data is just an estimate ( 2 million cases ) as Brazil does not collect such data.

Aside from that microcephaly thing (a possible relationship only, not a proven one) there is the other thing that may trouble (mostly) children or older cruisers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilla...C3%A9_syndrome

again, not a proven link but a possible one.

We have both been thru Chikungunya. If Zika is anything like, I suggest staying out till it all clears out or till there is a vaccine.

b.

[sanibel sailor]

When they come up with a vaccine against it, it will be interesting to see the anti-vaccine nuts' reaction.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

When they come up with a vaccine against it, it will be interesting to see the anti-vaccine nuts' reaction.

Why would you vaccinate nuts

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Why would you vaccinate nuts

Why should people who want to take the vaccine pay attention to people who do not? To each their own, NO?

IMHO If someone does not want to be shot, just let them be.

b.