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

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

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.

Generally, because the vaccine isn't given until children are older. So babies who can't be vaccinated are at risk due to anti vaccine people keeping a disease alive in the population

Chris - SailMentor.com

[Seymore]

Make sure that in your area and in your marina, derelict boats are pumped out and drained. Derelict boats with water in them are excellent places for mosquitoes to breed.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

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.

Abstainers from a vaccination campaign can lead to reservoirs of the disease remaining to reinfect the population. Anti Vaxx campaigners are not only badly wrong, they are dangerous.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Abstainers from a vaccination campaign can lead to reservoirs of the disease remaining to reinfect the population. Anti Vaxx campaigners are not only badly wrong, they are dangerous.

I am 100% with you (where I too think WHEN a vacc is available, we are better off swallowing the risks, and using it) but I think we are making too many assumptions.

a) Zika is NOT known, at this point, to become chronic,

b) the vector does not know who has Zika and who does not,

c) hence, statistically, the un-vaccined people are only threat to THEMSELVES ... As everybody who gets vaccined is safe from danger. To say the vacced population cannot be re-infected.

etc. (like: there is no Zika vacc available hence the anti-vacc people can as well demand stopping time travel NOW)

I do not think in social systems where parents can legally force their religion on their children we could make them vaccine, or not, the same children. For this, we would have to stop treating children as if they were objects owned by their parents, This would imply, likely, removal of most parent 'rights' and passing them over to the state. The whole thing does not sound like a plan that can be implemented in the Western culture within the next 100 years or so, unless we get some beyond imagination social revolution.

So I say just let them be. Some children will die as Zika can be deadly to the very young and to the old.

Some things cannot be helped.

Instead, we could concentrate on removing the vector. This, however, as we know, has as many opponents as Anti Vaxx has campaigners. Cul de sac. ;-(

At the same time we can keep on talking to the anti- campaigners. Show them facts and numbers, I think some may listen.

Feb 10th we can expect an update from Martinique. It stood at confirmed 2300 cases end of Jan. A tenfold increase vs. Jan 20th.

Cheers,
b.

[boatman61]

From what I can understand Zika is another virus of African origin..
Something I've noticed which may be purely coincidental but in all the news coverage of babies with small heads the mothers look to be indigenous Brasilian's..
Could this be down to a deficiency in the immune system ie: imported disease/virus strikes resistance free population..??

[Dr. Sea]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Abstainers from a vaccination campaign can lead to reservoirs of the disease remaining to reinfect the population. Anti Vaxx campaigners are not only badly wrong, they are dangerous.

Amen!

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by boatman61

From what I can understand Zika is another virus of African origin..
Something I've noticed which may be purely coincidental but in all the news coverage of babies with small heads the mothers look to be indigenous Brasilian's..
Could this be down to a deficiency in the immune system ie: imported disease/virus strikes resistance free population..??

Can it be because all the media buy stock images from the same source?

Do not expect to see images of the actual victims as this would be too much hassle (model release, to name only one factor) and too expensive. A stock photo is 10 cents a flick or thereabouts.

Zika seems as much actual danger as it is yet another fodder for mass media. Expect to see and read tons of non genuine, repetitive and at times incorrect (mis-) information.

Yesterday I have read on GOOGLE that Zika is due to the GM mosquitoes used to fight it and, from another source, that Zika is caused by Google ...

b.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Can it be because all the media buy stock images from the same source?

Do not expect to see images of the actual victims as this would be too much hassle (model release, to name only one factor) and too expensive. A stock photo is 10 cents a flick or thereabouts.

Zika seems as much actual danger as it is yet another fodder for mass media. Expect to see and read tons of non genuine, repetitive and at times incorrect (mis-) information.

Yesterday I have read on GOOGLE that Zika is due to the GM mosquitoes used to fight it and, from another source, that Zika is caused by Google ...

b.

No.. this is live footage on Sky and BBC.. several different women and babies... and no I'm not being hysterical or paranoid..
Personally... I could not care less as it does/will not affect my life in the slightest.. unless there's a travel ban.
No... merely speculating seeing as we've managed to eliminate so many indigenous populations over the centuries with germ warfare..

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by boatman61

No.. this is live footage on Sky and BBC.. several different women and babies... and no I'm not being hysterical or paranoid..
Personally... I could not care less as it does/will not affect my life in the slightest.. unless there's a travel ban.
No... merely speculating seeing as we've managed to eliminate so many indigenous populations over the centuries with germ warfare..

Not sure why BBC would join in the game. The link is a possible, not a proven, one. And Brazil has the level of other microcephaly risk factors present that it will be next to impossible to tell how much Zika contributed to the cases. Just think Bento Rodrigues dam failure where arsenic, lead and mercury were freed into a river that provides (not 'provided') potable water to a couple of million people.

I think with Zika, the main concern are deaths from regular virus illness factors and from the after effects. And these are known to kill both children and older people. So I think this is the main concern for cruisers, most of who are elderly people.

We have been thru Chikungunya and if Zika is still present in the fall, we will skip this season. We lost well over a month of pretty precious West Indies time back in 2012/13 and we are feeling the long term effects even today, three years down the road. Not worth it. And we are just on the edge of getting older (I am 45+ while my partner is somewhat younger).

Media are a strange place today - they will sell you everything that helps selling advertisement space in between flashes of wars, epidemies and whatever can grab our attention best. Sad, but this is what it is.

b.

[Blue Crab]

(I think Phil is an "older person." )

[barnakiel]

I can't tell for Phil ;-) but if we were to believe the Internet children under 5 are very vulnerable to all virus borne illness and children under 2 are considered EXTREMELY at risk.

As we get older, at around 40 our immune system is roughly only 50% as good as at age 20. We are basically helpless by 65. Most of us retire and go cruising past this age.

I sure like it when someone tells me I am still young. You know in Spain they do not even move out and take a job until they are 40 ... ;-) Alas, I am not Spanish!

I say, follow the news, act accordingly, do not take unnecessary risks. This is what any good navigator would do.

PS the image is not for Zika, but it does show the idea of how our immune system gets weaker over time.

b.

[Alan Mighty]

Optic nerve damage : research published in the Journal of the AMA shows that Zika virus damages the retina and optic nerves of some infants born to infected mothers - see: http://archopht.jamanetwork.com/arti...icleid=2491896

[barnakiel]

Yes. Very many pointers at Zika possibly damaging our nervous system in a number of ways. This is very bad as this is one of the systems that hardly build back. Damage is often irreversible.

Today the 10th, Martinique and other French regions may post their stats.

b.

[FXbyLou]

Originally Posted by GoingWalkabout

Looks like Summer in Canada and Winter in Chile is the best if mosquitoes like you. Neither place have the mosquito that carries the virus.

Anyone sailing USA, Caribbean, Central America and Pacific Islands should seriously be investing in mosquito covers for use on all entry ways from dusk till morning. Long sleeves and long pants with anti mosquito spray (they are toxic) in remaining exposed areas. Other anti winged pest strategies can be using blue light zappers and or citronella lamps for your back of boat sundowners.

Those lucky enough to have catamarans are able to use zippered mosquito enclosures around their cockpits. Great for inviting others not so lucky to have such a comfortable protected area at the marina over for drinks. Just a thought.

Here is a device that seems interesting.

Alpha Mosquito Trap (PRO 900) | Mega-Catchâ„¢ Mosquito Traps

By the way these little creatures come out 2 hours before nightfall to start eating. They are not active in temperatures bellow 80 F. They are attracted to dark clothes. Also to perfume. They have heat seeking sensors and follow after C02, your breath. Some mosquito traps use C02 emitting gas systems. Don't tell the global warming crowd.

Anyway here is an interesting report in the safety of Canada and Chile. One thing I don't understand about this travel warning report is that it doesn't warn against travel to the United States. The USA is now an infected region. Perhaps they are more concerned about politics.

Aedes mosquitoes -- the main vector for Zika transmission -- are present in all the region's countries except Canada and continental Chile," the statement said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged pregnant women to postpone travel to Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Martin, Suriname, Samoa, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.*

Is Cuba mentioned at all & does Cuba have a handle on research/treatment, given their forward medical research history?
More & more of us are visiting Cuba.

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by FXbyLou

Is Cuba mentioned at all & does Cuba have a handle on research/treatment, given their forward medical research history?
More & more of us are visiting Cuba.

Given that Cuba is a Communist country I am not sure we can rely on anything they publish.