W.H.O. Advises Caution, but Not a Halt, in Blood Collection in Zika-Affected Areas

[Disir]

The World Health Organization issued recommendations on Friday for safeguarding the blood supply from the Zika virus, but said blood collection may need to continue in some affected areas, despite concerns that the virus may be linked to birth defects

The Food and Drug Administration recently advised that United States territories with active Zika transmission, including Puerto Rico, should halt blood donations and import blood from nonaffected regions. Since there are no homegrown cases of Zika virus transmission in the continental United States, shipping blood to Zika-affected areas like Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands is feasible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/w...-blood-collection-in-zika-affected-areas.html

Reason number 999 that I no longer give a darn about W.H.O.

 

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UNICEF now has power of Google behind it in Zika virus fight...

Google Teams with UNICEF to Map Spread of Zika Virus
March 03, 2016 - Tech giant Google said Thursday that it is working with the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to help "map and anticipate" the spread of the Zika virus, which is linked to birth defects in children.

"A volunteer team of Google engineers, designers, and data scientists is helping UNICEF build a platform to process data from different sources in order to visualize potential outbreaks," said Google.org director Jacquelline Fuller in a statement posted on the company's blog. "Ultimately, the goal of this open source platform is to identify the risk of Zika transmission for different regions and help UNICEF, governments and NGO’s decide how and where to focus their time and resources."

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae are photographed at a laboratory of the Ministry of Health of El Salvador in San Salvador​

Fuller added that this set of tools, although prototyped for the Zika response, will also be useful for future emergencies. Google also announced that it is donating $1 million to support UNICEF's efforts, such as reducing mosquito populations; developing diagnostics and vaccines; awareness, and prevention.

The World Health Organization has warned that the mosquito-borne virus is spreading rapidly through the Americas and could affect as many as four million people. The Zika virus has been tentatively linked to 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil, a condition that results in abnormally small heads and brains in newborns. There is no treatment for microcephaly. Experts say the best way to prevent Zika is to avoid mosquito bites. No vaccine or treatment is available.

Google Teams with UNICEF to Map Spread of Zika Virus

See also:

WHO Director: Zika Menace Likely to Get Worse Before It's Stopped
February 25, 2016 - Fear of the Zika virus is intense in Brazil because of its apparent link to a birth defect. After a fact-finding mission in Brazil, Dr. Margaret Chan, who heads the World Health Organization, said the situation "can get worse before it gets better."

Chan called the Zika virus a much bigger menace than the Ebola epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, given the magnitude of Zika's spread and its possible link to microcephaly, a birth defect involving brain growth that leaves babies at risk of a host of long-term developmental issues. The WHO, governments of affected countries and U.S. health officials have made Zika a top priority.

Caio Julio Vasconcelos, born with microcephaly, undergoes therapy at the Institute for the Blind in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Feb. 25, 2016. U.S. researchers are assisting in the effort to determine whether Zika is causing babies to be born with unusually small heads.​

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health stressed the need for special funding to continue research on the disease, work on a vaccine against it, and help U.S. states and territories prepare for the virus's spread. They spoke before committees in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. "We need to prepare to respond in Puerto Rico," Schuchat said. The Zika virus is circulating in Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory. "We need the rest of the U.S. to be ready, because travelers will be returning from these affected areas. And we need to work with international partners on the ground to learn as much as we can so that we can protect Americans."

A pregnant woman holds a mosquito net in Cali, Colombia, Feb. 10, 2016. The Colombian Health Ministry began delivering mosquito nets for free to pregnant women to prevent the infection by Zika virus, vectored by the Aedes aegypti mosquito​

Forty million to 50 million people travel between the U.S. and Latin America each year, and the type of mosquito that carries the Zika virus lives in much of the United States. While U.S. public health officials expect some transmission in the southern part of the U.S., they don't expect Zika to be a major worry. Most of the cases of Zika in the U.S. have been in people who traveled to the affected regions. The CDC is investigating sexual transmission and has confirmed that a woman in Texas got the virus from a male sexual partner.

Guillain-Barré syndrome

 

[waltky]

Zika eats brain cells...

Zika caught 'killing' brain cells
Fri, 04 Mar 2016 - Zika virus kills the type of tissue found in the developing brain, researchers have shown.

It was able to destroy or disrupt the growth of neural progenitor cells, which build the brain and nervous system, in lab tests. The discovery, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, adds weight to claims that Zika is causing brain abnormalities in babies. However, the US researchers caution this is not yet the conclusive link. There have been more than 4,800 confirmed and suspected cases of babies born with small brains - microcephaly - in Brazil. It is widely thought that the Zika outbreak is to blame, but this has not been scientifically confirmed.

The team from the Johns Hopkins, Florida State and Emory universities infected a range of tissue samples with Zika virus for two hours and then analysed the samples three days later. The virus was able to infect up to 90% of neural progenitor cells in a sample leading to nearly a third of cells dying and the growth of the rest being disrupted. A similar effect in a developing brain could have devastating results. The virus was able to infect only 10% of other tissue types tested including more advanced brain cells, kidney cells and embryonic stem cells.

Prof Guo-li Ming, one of the researchers, said the findings were significant and represented a first step to understanding the link between microcephaly and Zika. She told the BBC News website: "Neural progenitor cells are especially vulnerable to the Zika virus. "They are giving rise to the cortex - the primary part [of the brain] that shows reduced volume in microcephaly. "But this research does not provide the direct evidence that Zika virus is the cause for microcephaly." She said studies looking at brain organoids or animal studies were still needed.

Analysis

 

[waltky]

Zika and the blood supply...

Zika virus and safe blood supply
Monday 7th March, 2016 - Can Zika virus be transmitted through donated blood?

Zika virus may present a risk to blood safety. Currently there is a limited knowledge of Zika virus and the ways it can be transmitted. The majority of cases are transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito, Aedes mosquitos. Until more is known about other means of transmission, precautions should be taken to ensure the supply of blood is safe. Zika virus has been detected in blood donors in affected areas. Transmission of related flaviviruses (dengue and West Nile virus) by blood transfusion has been documented, and thus transmission of Zika virus is possible.

Probable cases of Zika virus transmission by blood transfusion have been reported from Campinas, Brazil. What precautions should be taken to ensure that the blood supply is safe in countries where Zika infection is occurring? Ideally the blood supply during a regional outbreak of Zika should be maintained by increasing blood collections in non-affected areas. In non-affected areas, consideration may be given to defer potential donors who have recently visited areas with ongoing transmission of Zika virus infection days after their departure from these areas. What about blood donations in areas affected by Zika?

Blood collection may need to continue in affected areas to meet needs for blood and its components. This may be necessary when an outbreak is affecting a large swathe of a country or when it is not possible to get blood from regions where Zika is not circulating. What measures may be considered for reducing the risk of Zika virus through blood transfusion in areas with active Zika virus transmission? Temporary exclusion of donors with a recent clinical history consistent with Zika virus disease, such as a combination of fever or rash with pinkeye, muscle aches, headache or malaise. Temporary exclusion of donors for whom laboratory test results show they may recently have been infected.

MORE

See also:

Zika and sexual transmission
Monday 7th March, 2016 - Can Zika be transmitted through sex?

Possibly. Zika virus is primarily transmitted via the Aedes mosquito, but some cases of what appears to be transmission by sex have also been recorded. How can people protect themselves? All people who have been infected with Zika virus and their sexual partners - particularly pregnant women - should receive information about the risks of sexual transmission of Zika virus, contraceptive options and safer sexual practices. When feasible, they should have access to condoms and use them correctly and consistently. Women who have had unprotected sex and suspect they may be infected with the virus should be given access to emergency contraceptive services and counselling if they do not wish to become pregnant.

Pregnant women's sex partners living in or returning from areas where local transmission of Zika virus is known to occur should practice safer sex or abstain (throughout the pregnancy). Zika virus causes no symptoms in most people. Does this fact affect this guidance? Yes, being asymptomatic is a complicating factor. Because most people who are infected with Zika virus show no symptoms, people living in areas where local transmission of Zika virus is known to occur should consider adopting safer sexual practices or abstaining from sexual activity.

In addition, people returning from areas where local transmission of Zika virus is known to occur should adopt safer sexual practices or consider abstinence for at least four weeks after their return. Independently of the Zika virus outbreaks, WHO always recommends the use of safer sexual practices including correct and consistent use of condoms to prevent HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. Zika virus has been found in semen. Should semen be tested routinely for Zika virus? WHO does not recommend routine semen testing to detect Zika virus.

Zika and sexual transmission

 

[waltky]

Gettin' closer to figurin' out zika...

Proof of Zika’s Link to Neurological Disorders Grows
March 22, 2016 — The World Health Organization has convened seven meetings since early February with experts on various aspects of the Zika virus. While the body of scientific knowledge about the virus is building rapidly, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan says the more that is known, the worse things look.

WHO reports there is growing evidence that Zika is linked with Guillain-Barre syndrome, microcephaly — a brain disorder in children —and other severe disorders of the central nervous system. "A pattern has emerged in which initial detection of virus circulation is followed within about three weeks by an unusual increase in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome,” Chan said. “Detection of microcephaly and other fetal malformations comes later, as pregnancies of infected women come to term."

Lara, who was born with microcephaly, is examined by a neurologist at the Pedro I hospital in Campina Grande, Paraiba state, Brazil​

WHO reports 6,480 cases of microcephaly are suspected, mostly from northeast Brazil. Investigations have been carried out on 2,212 cases, and 863 are confirmed to have brain abnormalities. Panama has reported one suspected case of microcephaly, and Colombia is investigating several cases of the abnormality in babies for a possible link with Zika. In other countries and territories, Chan says the virus has not been circulating long enough for pregnancies to come to term. A WHO team is in Cape Verde to investigate the country's first reported case of microcephaly.

No time to waste

Chan says a high-level meeting convened by WHO looked at the scientific evidence linking Zika infections with malformation and neurological disorders. "Though the association is not yet scientifically proven, the meeting concluded that there is now scientific consensus that Zika virus is implicated in these neurological disorders,” she said. “The kind of urgent action called for by this public health emergency should not wait for definitive proof."

Blood samples from pregnant women are analyzed for the presence of the Zika virus, at Guatemalan Social Security maternity hospital in Guatemala City​

Currently, the Zika virus is circulating in 38 countries and territories. Chan says it is difficult to predict whether the virus will spread to other parts of the world. However, she warns, the world will face a severe public health crisis if the same pattern is confirmed beyond Latin America and the Caribbean.

Proof of Zika’s Link to Neurological Disorders Grows

 

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Mouse Model to Help Test Zika Vaccines, Drugs...

US Scientists Develop Mouse Model to Test Zika Vaccines, Drugs
March 28, 2016 — Early tests with infected mice show virus growing in testes, offering clues about how virus typically spread by mosquito bite can be transmitted sexually

U.S. scientists have identified a genetically modified strain of mice that develop Zika, an important tool needed for testing vaccines and medicines to treat the virus that is rapidly spreading across the Americas and the Caribbean. Early tests on the mice show the virus growing in the testes, offering clues about how a virus typically spread by mosquito bites can be transmitted sexually. "We are going to do experiments to see if we can produce sexual transmission" in these mice, said Scott Weaver, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who worked on the study published Monday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

A medical researcher uses a monitor that shows the results of blood tests for various diseases, including Zika, at the Gorgas Memorial laboratory in Panama City​

Weaver said the Zika mouse model will provide a critical tool to allow companies and scientists to test vaccines and antiviral drugs against Zika, which has been linked with thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size and possible developmental problems. Zika has not been proven to cause microcephaly, but strong evidence connecting Zika infections with microcephaly cases in Brazil prompted the World Health Organization to declare Zika a global health emergency Feb. 1.

Normally, creating this kind of mouse model would take several months. But the urgency of the Zika outbreak called for rapid response, and the team put together the results in just three weeks, said Shannan Rossi, a UTMB virologist who led the study. Normally, mice do not become sick from a Zika infection. The team tested the virus on several genetically altered mice that had weakened immune systems. The young mice quickly succumbed to the virus, becoming lethargic, losing weight and typically dying six days later. Testing on the mice showed virus particles in many major organs, including high concentrations in the spleen, brain and testes.

Mothers with their children, who have microcephaly, await medical care at the Hospital Oswaldo Cruz, in Recife, Brazil​

While Weaver says there are limits to what mouse models can tell about human infections, they may at least provide some early clues that could be followed up in non-human primates, a more costly animal model that is a better predictor of human disease. "The mouse will mainly be used to do the very earliest testing of vaccines or drugs where the mechanism of disease doesn't have to be a perfect model to what happens in humans," Weaver said. Brazil has confirmed more than 900 microcephaly cases and considers most related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating nearly 4,300 additional suspected cases of microcephaly.

US Scientists Develop Mouse Model to Test Zika Vaccines, Drugs

 

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Global warming might aid spread of Zika...

Climate change might aid spread of Zika
Wed, Apr 20, 2016 - As Europe and the US brace for the likely arrival of the Zika virus from Latin America this summer, experts warn global warming might accelerate the spread of mosquito-borne disease.

Rising temperatures are a threat in more ways than one, they cautioned ahead of a major gathering of Zika researchers in Paris next week. “Climate change has contributed to the expansion of the range of mosquitoes,” said Moritz Kraemer, an infectious diseases specialist at Oxford University in England.

Kraemer was the lead author of a study mapping last year’s habitats of two warm-weather species — both of which have gained ground in recent decades — known to infect humans with several viruses. Since 2014, Aedes aegypti, known as the “yellow fever” mosquito, has been the main carrier of Zika across Brazil, Colombia and other parts of Latin America, where it has infected several million people, according to the WHO. Most carriers of the virus show no symptoms. However, Zika has also caused a sharp increase in cases of microcephaly, a devastating condition that shrivels foetal brains. It is also linked to a rare neurological disorder in adults.

The second species, Aedes albopictus, is similarly found along the world’s tropical belt, but unlike aegypti, it has also colonized about 20 nations in southern Europe since the early 1990s. In the northern hemisphere, mosquitoes are most active during summer months, disappearing in winter. In the warm, moist tropics, they thrive year-round. Over the past decade, the newly arrived albopictus has caused small outbreaks in southern Europe of dengue and chikungunya — viral diseases that provoke high fever, headaches, muscular pain and, in rare cases, death.

Laboratory tests have shown that albopictus is also — in the jargon of mosquito experts — “competent” to carry Zika, and could drive its spread in Europe. “The threat we are facing is that we will see the Zika virus in Europe next summer,” said Anna-Bella Failloux, a virologist at the Institut Pasteur, which is to co-host the April 25 and 26 meeting. Any outbreaks would likely remain localized, she said, but the fear of microcephaly looms large. In the southern US, where aegypti is common, the threat is even more immediate.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Scientists raise fear of higher Zika risk...

Zika virus: Risk higher than first thought, say doctors
Mon, 02 May 2016 - The Zika virus may be even more dangerous than previously thought, affecting one in five pregnant women who contract it, scientists in Brazil say.

Leading doctors have told the BBC that Zika could be behind more damaging neurological conditions, affecting one in five pregnant women who contract it. Rates of increase in Zika infection in some parts of Brazil have slowed, thanks to better information about preventing the disease.

But the search for a vaccine is still in the early stages. And Zika continues to spread across the region. Most doctors and medical researchers now agree that there is a link between the Zika virus and microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads because of restricted brain development.

While it is estimated that 1% of women who have had Zika during pregnancy will have a child with microcephaly, doctors in Brazil have told the BBC that as many as 20% of Zika-affected pregnancies will result in a range of other forms of brain damage to the baby in the womb.

A separate study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, said that "29% of scans showed abnormalities in babies in the womb, including growth restrictions, in women infected with Zika".

Zika virus: Risk higher than first thought, say doctors - BBC News

 

[waltky]

Cheaper, Paper-based test for zika developed...

Researchers Develop Cheaper, Paper-based Zika Test
May 10, 2016 - Some 57 countries and territories are now reporting cases of people being infected, most by mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus

A team of researchers based at Harvard University say they have developed a testing method that could quickly diagnose Zika virus, and do so basically anywhere in the world. The Zika outbreak first hit the Western Hemisphere a year ago with reports of infections in Brazil. Some 57 countries and territories are now reporting cases of people being infected, most by mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus. Several countries also have reported cases that appear to have spread through sexual contact. The World Health Organization says there is scientific consensus that Zika is a cause of both the birth defect microcephaly in infants and the nervous system disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome. Most of the affected countries are in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the WHO says if the pattern spreads elsewhere the world faces a severe public health crisis.

Dallas County Mosquito Lab microbiologist Spencer Lockwood sorts mosquitoes collected in a trap in Hutchins, Texas, that had been set up near the location of a confirmed Zika virus infection​

Building on work they did to develop a screening method for Ebola, the researchers led by synthetic biologist James Collins came up with a way to screen blood, urine or saliva for Zika virus. In a paper published in the journal Cell, they said previous techniques such as looking for antibodies in body fluids are limited because people could have antibodies from similar viruses present in the region such as Dengue. Other methods are expensive and require equipment that is not readily available in many areas. Their method uses paper cards about the size of a human hand that contain freeze-dried biomolecular components. Because the concentration of Zika virus in the blood is very low, the researchers first amplify the sample through a process that triggers the virus to multiply. The amplified sample is then applied to the paper card, and if Zika is present, the card changes color.

Samples from any positive test can then be applied to another card that is set up to determine which of the many strains of Zika virus is present. The testing can produce a result in as little as 30 minutes with the change in color easily visible to the naked eye. An even faster result can be achieved by placing the card in a special reader, the researchers say. "The freeze-dried molecular components remain stable at room temperature, allowing for easy storage and distribution in global settings," the paper says.

Five-month-old Laura undergoes a medical test at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Sao Paulo, Brazil​

In addition to its potential application in a variety of settings, the researchers say their method is also a lot cheaper than others used to detect Zika. "We are currently pursuing multiple opportunities to secure private and public funding in order to commercialize this diagnostic system and make it available to the world's health responders," Collins said. There is no vaccine for Zika. The WHO says developers in the U.S., France, Brazil, India and Austria are currently working on 23 different projects in order to develop one. The agency expects some of them to be at the stage of clinical trials by the end of the year, but that a fully tested vaccine may not be available for several years. In the meantime, efforts to halt the virus are focused on controlling the mosquitoes that carry it. The WHO says half of the world's population lives in areas where the Aedes aegypti mosquito does too.

Researchers Develop Cheaper, Paper-based Zika Test

 

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Zika communicable between humans...

Zika Patient in Utah Infects Caregiver
July 18, 2016 - U.S. health officials say they believe that a man who recently died while infected with the Zika virus in the state of Utah passed the disease to a caregiver beforehand, raising questions about how the virus is spread.

Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the caregiver, a family contact, tested positive for the virus but appears to have recovered from the infection.

They are investigating how the disease could have spread between the two people. Officials say the type of mosquito that mainly spreads the virus in not found in the high-altitude area where they live. Also, officials say the two individuals did not have sexual contact - another way the virus is spread.

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 say the exact cause of death is 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 could cause microcephaly, which is linked to brain defects from birth.

Zika Patient in Utah Infects Caregiver