Zika virus detected in 129 California cities

[MindWars]

The mosquitos that can carry the Zika virus have reportedly appeared in 129 California cities. With cold winter weather the only major obstacle to the Zika virus becoming America’s first pandemic since the 1957 Asian Flu, ground zero for a potential pandemic is now the West Coast. The California Department of Public Health released an emergency warning on


Zika Mosquitos Detected in 129 California Cities...
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Well isn't this special. Jon Rappaport had an excellent write up on this .
which his site is nomorefakenews.com

 

[waltky]

New Test Could Pinpoint Zika Virus...

Cheap 'Dipstick' Test Could Pinpoint Zika Virus, say Scientists
September 27, 2017 — A new "dipstick" serum test to quickly and cheaply determine whether a person is infected with Zika could lead to better health care for women with the virus, which can cause birth defects, said scientists.

The simple paper strips — which can be used to test for four subtypes of dengue as well as Zika — could also provide "early warning" of the spread of pathogens, said scientists who are exploring ways to commercialize the technology. Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, associate professor of engineering at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said it resembles a pregnancy test. "You simply dunk it in a solution with a human sample and the fluid leaks through — two spots means it's positive and one spot means it's negative," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Cost target

The test is designed for use in developing countries, and the aim is for it to cost less than $1 per strip, she added. The lab cost is currently about $5. The research, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, involved more than 50 scientists. It tested serum from people in Latin America and India to determine infections by the various viruses. Transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the symptoms of dengue, Zika and yellow fever can appear very similar, including fevers, headaches, and aching joints and muscles. But pregnant women infected with Zika risk having babies with the birth defect microcephaly, which is defined by an unusually small head and can result in developmental problems and other severe brain abnormalities.

An infant diagnosed with microcephaly linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus, is cradled by his mother, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.​

The Zika epidemic that hit Brazil in 2015 left thousands of babies suffering from birth defects. "Knowing whether these tests are positive or negative is very important for designing the course of clinical care," said Lee Gehrke, professor in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It simplifies the decision tree and, we believe, leads to improved patient care." MIT, whose scientists led the research, is looking to patent the technology and obtain regulatory approval for the antigen-based test.

No false positives

Scientists said the test had been proven not to "cross-react," meaning it did not show a false positive for a closely related virus rather than the one being tested for. It requires little technical skill and could be used on blood as well as serum samples, they added. Besides diagnosing patients in clinics and hospitals, the dipstick tests could also be used to alert public health services if new serotypes of dengue, for example, arrive in a particular place, said Gehrke. "If a new serotype is introduced into an area, it can cause an outbreak because [people's] immune systems do not protect them from the new virus," he said.

A female Aedes aegypti mosquito in the process of acquiring a blood meal from a human host.​

There is currently no treatment for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe, effective vaccine, but a preventative shot is not expected to be ready for widespread use for at least two or three years. Endemic in Latin America and Asia, dengue infects hundreds of millions of people each year, and is becoming more prevalent. There is no dedicated treatment for the virus, which is usually found in urban and semiurban areas.

Cheap 'Dipstick' Test Could Pinpoint Zika Virus, say Scientists

 

[waltky]

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.

Health Officials: More Birth Defects in US Areas With Zika