ZIKA - Page 4

Katluver925 · ‎07-14-2013

The mosquitoes don't have to travel, all they have to do is bite someone and infect them and then when that person travels somewhere else they can be bitten by uninfected mosquitoes and pass the disease on to those mosquitoes. Then it just continues to spread from there. Scary isn't it! Controlling the mosquitoes is key.

september · ‎03-09-2010

@Katluver925 wrote:
The mosquitoes don't have to travel, all they have to do is bite someone and infect them and then when that person travels somewhere else they can be bitten by uninfected mosquitoes and pass the disease on to those mosquitoes. Then it just continues to spread from there. Scary isn't it! Controlling the mosquitoes is key.

Exactly. But that is the issue...and also the problem.

In most other countries...they do nothing to take care of their mosquito problems. I lived in Europe for two years...we had no screens on our windows. No one did.

We were chewed up by mosquitoes during the summer months. They just don't see it as a problem.

Deb1010yetagain · ‎12-09-2013

This is a terrible thing. The media is going crazy with it. If I was pregnant and had been to the affected areas I'd be on pins and needles until my due date.

Those poor babies look so odd and most likely have severe brain damage. Where's the justice in this world?

Stray · ‎04-20-2013

@Noel7 wrote:
It seems they are mostly poor people getting the virus, I can't see them pulling up roots and hoping a plane for here. No travel money, nowhere to stay without funds. Doesn't make sense.

No, they won't be coming here but people visit these areas from all over, churches that send members for missionary work, aide workers and travelers....the travelers get bitten by an infected mosquito, come home, get bitten by a domestic mosquito, the mosquito now infected bites another and so it goes...I am in Australia and they are concerned about sending their Olympic Team to Brazil....with the Olympics, many will be traveling there, so I hope they get a handle on it before then...that could be a nightmare..

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

Some airlines and cruise ships are offering refunds to pregnant women.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/01/29/as-zika-concerns-mount-airlines-and...

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

There are currently 31 people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with the Zika virus, including three pregnant women -- two in Illinois and one in New York.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/zika-virus-update-31-people-us-infected-houston/story?id=36597002

Plaid Pants2 · ‎03-14-2015

@Deb1010yetagain wrote:
This is a terrible thing. The media is going crazy with it. If I was pregnant and had been to the affected areas I'd be on pins and needles until my due date.

Those poor babies look so odd and most likely have severe brain damage. Where's the justice in this world?

That's just it though, you don't have to go to an infected area to be suseptible to the virus.

And infected person get bitten by a mosquito there, and gets the illness.

They then come here, to where you are, and a mosquito here bites them.

That mosquito is now infected.

That same mosquito then bites YOU.

Now you are infected, and you never even left your home town/city.

RainCityWoman · ‎06-16-2015

I am assuming that Zika is similar to West Nile virus which has been around for quite a while...both mosquito transmitted.

debcakes · ‎03-11-2010

I was in Cartagena, Colombia, just before Christmas. They warned us about Mosquitos and stressed to use repellant because Mosquitos can carry disease. It sounded like just so general warning, no mention of Zika. Actually, I saw no Mosquitos at all, so it was very pleasant.

ChynnaBlue · ‎05-22-2012

@Noel7 wrote:
@ChynnaBlue

Thanks for the article!

Do you know why not Canada? At first I thought it must be the cold weather, but I scanned and apparently Canada is known for terrible mosquitoes.

The Zika virus isn't found in all mosquitoes and the ones found to spread the virus have not been found in Canada. Here's some additional information:

How is the virus spread?

Mosquitoes, but not every species.

Zika is spread by mosquitoes of the Aedes species, which can breed in a pool of water as small as a bottle cap and usually bite during the day. The aggressive yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, has spread most Zika cases, but that mosquito is common in the United States only in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, and in Hawaii – although it has been found as far north as Washington, D.C., in hot weather.

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is also known to transmit the virus, but it is not clear how efficiently. That mosquito ranges as far north as New York and Chicago in summer.

Although the virus is normally spread by mosquitoes, there has been one report of possible spread through blood transfusion and one of possible spread through sex. The virus was found on one occasion in ******.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/health/what-is-zika-virus.html?_r=0

One thing I do wonder is if global warming will make it easier for these mosquitoes get survive and get a foothold further north in the future. That's happening with other species, they are either moving into or out of some areas based on temperature changes. Hopefully the temperature difference is too extreme for that, but I don't know.

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