Zika Virus propaganda move to cover vaccine asshats

[RodISHI]

Is the Zika virus is being used to cover-up the fact that pregnant Brazillian women were mandated to take Tdap vaccine shots in 2014? WHO recommended, Brazil's medical team went for it and some even here in the United States. There are now a whole lot of babies born with a claim that Zika is the cause in Brazil baby malformations. It appears most likely the mandatory Tdap required vaccine for all pregnant women in Brazil in late 2014 is related 4,000 cases of babies with microcephaly.

Tdap Vaccinations for All Pregnant Women in Brazil Mandated in Late 2014

 

[Valerie]

why would Tdap vaccine only effect Brazilians..?

 

[RodISHI]

why would Tdap vaccine only effect Brazilians..?

Why would vaccines not tested on pregnant women be pushed onto pregnant women? Not only that report has it not all those women had Zika in their blood test.

 

[Valerie]

don't be such a fear mongering ignoramus... it only spreads harm.

i'm not playing your disingenuous question & answer game, obvious troll...




some facts for the ignorant:

Zika virus

Zika virus 'spreading explosively,' WHO leader says - CNN.com


Vaccine Information Statement | Tdap | Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis | VIS | CDC

 

[RodISHI]

WHO is full of shit. Sorry that is just fact. Go shoot yourself up with all the vaccines you like but leave everyone else alone.

 

[waltky]

Ya can't get zika from donating blood - but ya can from a blood transfusion...

Zika virus hits blood donation in US
Thursday 4th February, 2016 - WASHINGTON | The fast-spreading Zika virus triggered more alarm after a case of transmission through sexual contact was reported even as the American Red Cross asked people to defer donating blood for 28 days if they have visited any country with Zika infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an advisory has told pregnant women to protect themselves if their male sexual partner has traveled to or lives in an area where Zika virus is circulating. The recommendation comes a day after health officials in Dallas County, Texas, noted a case of Zika virus in a patient who had sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela infected with the mosquito-borne virus. The World Health Organization has voiced concern over the reported sexual transmission of the virus that is suspected to be the cause of severe birth defects in Brazil.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said that most cases are transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. "This reported case in the US, of course, raises concerns," Hartl said at the UN agency's headquarters in Geneva. "This needs to be further investigated to understand the conditions and how often or likely sexual transmission is." But he said that for the WHO "the most important thing to do is to control people's exposure to mosquitoes." The American Red Cross has asked people to avoid donating blood if they have traveled to Latin America or the Caribbean in the past 28 days.

Donors who develop symptoms of Zika are to contact the Red Cross within two weeks so their blood can be quarantined, the organization said in a statementWednesday. "The American Red Cross is dedicated to providing the safest, most reliable blood products possible to patients in need," said Susan Stramer, vice president of scientific affairs at the American Red Cross. "The Red Cross continues to use safety measures to protect the blood supply from Zika and other mosquito-borne viruses." This follows a recommendation by the American Association of Blood Banks which said the virus is known to remain in the blood for less than 28 days. More than 30 Americans have been diagnosed with Zika after traveling to Latin America or the Caribbean.

The Canadian Blood Services said it is barring people from giving blood within 21 days of traveling outside of Canada, the continental USA and Europe. Blood suppliers currently test for diseases including HIV, hepatitis, West Nile virus and the parasite that causes malaria. There are no commercial tests available for Zika virus. A US travel alert has been issued for two more destinations because of the Zika virus. Health officials Wednesday added Jamaica and Tonga in the South Pacific to the list of places where travelers should protect themselves against the virus. There are now 30 travel destinations on the list, most of them in Latin America or the Caribbean. In Australia, scientists have said that the same control methods used to hold back spread of the virus that causes dengue fever could also be used to combat Zika.

Zika virus hits blood donation in US

See also:

Inadequate testing thwarts efforts to measure Zika's impact
4 Feb.`16 - One major hurdle is thwarting efforts to measure the extent of the Zika epidemic and its suspected links to thousands of birth defects in Brazil: accurate diagnosis of a virus that still confounds blood tests.

Genetic tests and clinical symptoms have enabled scientists to partially track Zika, and Brazil guesses up to 1.5 million people have been infected in the country. The World Health Organization says as many as 4 million people could become infected across the Americas and that Zika has already been locally transmitted in at least 30 countries. But a true measure of the outbreak and its implications is impossible until doctors can quickly and reliably identify Zika through serology, a common test of blood contents that measures antibodies triggered in the immune system by a given infection.

A municipal health worker shows off a test tube with larvae of Zika virus vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, as part of the city's efforts to prevent the spread of the Zika, in Guatemala City, Guatemala​

Laboratories in Brazil, the United States and elsewhere are rushing to develop serology tests that can accurately identify Zika antibodies while ignoring those triggered by other related viruses with similar structures. For years, the similarities have confused serology research. Brazil's government, desperate for tests to deploy at clinics and hospitals across the continent-sized country, hopes such a test could be developed in months.

Many researchers are skeptical. "The likelihood of this happening soon is close to zero," says Robert Lanciotti, chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's diagnostics laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado. "It is a long-standing problem that many people have been unable to solve even with cutting-edge molecular biology." At stake is knowing just who may have carried an infection that does not even show symptoms in four out of five people who get it. Even for those that do get the aches, mild fever and rash most associated with Zika, the symptoms can easily be confused with those of other tropical maladies.

MORE

Related:

US health officials confirm Zika virus case in Texas
Wednesday 3rd February - Texas Health officials on Tuesday confirmed that the first known case of Zika transmission has been reported in the United States and the virus, which has sparked global health emergency, may have been transmitted through sex and not a mosquito bite.

The virus, thought to be spread by the bite of mosquitoes of the Aedes genus, has caused severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil and is spreading rapidly in the Americas. WHO officials on Tuesday expressed concern that it could hit Africa and Asia as well. Dallas County Health and Human Services said it received confirmation of the newly found case in Dallas from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county department said on Twitter that the person was infected through sexual contact with someone who had traveled to Venezuela, which has a Zika outbreak.

The person infected however did not travel to the South American country, county health officials said. The CDC in a statement said the test results showed Zika present in the blood of a "non-traveler in the continental United States". They stressed that there was no risk to a developing fetus in this instance. Scientists have known that Zika can be transmitted through sex even as in the vast majority of cases it is spread through the bite of infected mosquitoes, much like malaria or West Nile virus.

The discovery of first sexual contact in the US as a mode of transmission is still considered a potentially alarming development. "Now that we know Zika virus can be transmitted through sex, this increases our awareness campaign in educating the public about protecting themselves and others," said Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health Department. "Next to abstinence, condoms are the best prevention method against any sexually transmitted infections." Zika infections are usually mild and not fatal. But sharp increase in birth defects in Brazil has caused concerns. The World Health Organization declared Monday that the Zika outbreak is a "public health emergency of international concern."

The virus has been reported in more than 30 countries and linked to microcephaly, in which babies have abnormally small heads and improperly developed brains. Before the fresh case, there have been only two documented cases linking Zika to sex. During the 2013 Zika outbreak in French Polynesia, semen and urine samples from a 44-year-old Tahitian man tested positive for Zika even when blood samples did not. Five years before that, in 2008, a Colorado microbiologist named Brian Foy contracted Zika after travel to Senegal; his wife came down with the disease a few days later even though she had not left northern Colorado and was not exposed to any mosquitoes carrying the virus.

US health officials confirm Zika virus case in Texas

 

[waltky]

Zika Virus Found in Saliva, Urine Samples & Transfusion...

Brazil: Live Samples of Zika Virus Found in Saliva, Urine Samples
February 05, 2016 - Brazilian health officials said Friday that they had found live samples of the Zika virus in saliva and urine samples.

Paulo Gadelha, president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a biomedical research institution in Rio de Janeiro, said at a news conference that casual kissing "increases the risk" of being infected with the virus. He said, however, that there should be no anti-kissing policy. Scientists at research institution said they were trying to determine whether body fluids could spread Zika to new patients. Brazil entered the Carnival season Friday, a time when people commonly kiss strangers they meet at massive street parties. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization advised officials not to accept blood donations from people who recently returned from countries affected by the Zika virus. The mosquito-borne virus is most prevalent in Latin America, particularly Brazil, and poses its greatest danger to pregnant women. "With the risk of incidence of new infections of Zika virus in many countries ... it is estimated as an appropriate precautionary measure to defer donors who return from areas with Zika virus outbreaks," the WHO told the French news agency AFP on Thursday.

A traveler receives information about the Zika virus during a campaign by Peru's Health Ministry at Plaza Norte bus station in Lima​

Microcephaly

Doctors suspect the Zika virus is linked to a rare neurological condition called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. Brazil reports more than 4,000 microcephaly cases since October. But experts are puzzled about why it is nearly nonexistent in other Latin American countries where the Zika virus is present. Spain confirmed the virus Thursday in a pregnant woman who had recently traveled to Colombia. It was the first known pregnancy-related Zika case in Europe. There is currently no treatment for Zika. But a number of global pharmaceutical houses are rapidly working on a vaccine. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff said Thursday that Brazil and the United States were working together to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus, but warned it might take some time.

Daniele Ferreira dos Santos feeds her son Juan Pedro, who suffers from microcephaly, as they wait to be examined at the Altino Ventura Foundation, a treatment center that provides free health care, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil​

Panama research

Meanwhile, officials in Panama said they were focusing their fight against Zika on the mosquito that carries the virus. Experts told AFP they were looking at releasing millions of genetically modified male Aedes mosquitoes, who would mate with the females and result in offspring that die at the larval stage. Panama carried out such an experiment near Panama City in 2014, nearly wiping out a town's entire mosquito population.

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​

Tonga confirms 5 cases

In another development Friday, the tiny South Pacific kingdom of Tonga reported it had five confirmed cases of Zika and more than 250 other people suspected of having the virus. Tongan officials began spraying for mosquitoes in schools and other places where people gather.

Brazil: Live Samples of Zika Virus Found in Saliva, Urine Samples

See also:

Brazil confirms Zika via transfusion
Sat, Feb 06, 2016 - TRACKING: A gunshot victim, who received numerous blood transfusions, and an organ transplant recipient, both tested positive for Zika without mosquito bites

Two people in southeastern Brazil contracted the Zika virus through blood transfusions, a municipal health official said on Thursday, presenting a fresh challenge to efforts to contain the virus on top of the disclosure of a case of sexual transmission in the US. The two unrelated cases in Brazil might be the first of people contracting Zika via blood transfusions in the current outbreak, though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with other health bodies, have said that Zika could be spread via blood transfusions. That concern led the US Red Cross to announce that it is asking travelers to Zika outbreak nations to wait at least 28 days before donating blood. Canadian officials said that people who have traveled outside of Canada, the continental US and Europe would not be able to give blood for 21 days after their return.

Brigina Kemp, a top health official in the Brazilian city of Campinas, said that a gunshot victim and a transplant patient each tested positive for Zika after receiving blood transfusions from different donors. Kemp said staff at the University of Campinas’ hospital first noticed something was wrong in the middle of last year, when Brazil’s first cases of Zika were beginning to be reported. Generally so mild that it only causes symptoms in about one out of five cases, Zika began to raise alarm bells after doctors here started to notice a possible link between the virus — spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito — and the birth defect microcephaly. The hospital staff noticed abnormal blood work on a young gunshot wound victim who had spent months at the facility. The patient received dozens of blood transfusions from 18 donors between February and May last year, when he died.

Because the region was in the throes of a dengue outbreak at the time, the staff suspected that disease, which is closely related to Zika, and tested him for it, Kemp said. However, the tests came back negative and the blood sample was shelved, but when an organ transplant patient tested positive for Zika after developing a fever, the hospital’s blood bank staff started looking for other possible Zika cases and tests on the gunshot victim’s blood samples came back positive. Transfusions in the two cases were traced to separate donors who had Zika, both of whom reported having suffered symptoms days after they gave blood. The blood bank then informed Sao Paulo’s Adolfo Lutz Institute, which also tested the samples and informed Campinas’ health department of the results last month.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health said in an e-mail that while the case of the gunshot victim was not yet part of a scientific study, “the case is among multiple investigations under way into the behavior of the virus.” Brazilian Association of Hematology and Hemotherapy president Dante Langhi said that an academic paper about the transplant case was slated to be published shortly in a specialized medical journal. Langhi said he had been told that researchers investigating the transplant case had determined that the patient contracted Zika through the transfusion and not through a bite by the Aedes mosquito that is the virus’ main vector. “The situation must be evaluated and discussed by technical and government authorities,” Langhi said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

WHO caution on transfusions from blood donations...

WHO: Refuse Blood Donations From People Who Visited Zika-affected Areas
February 04, 2016 - The World Health Organization on Thursday advised officials not to accept blood donations from people who had recently returned from countries affected by the Zika virus.

The mosquito-borne virus is most prevalent in Latin America, particularly Brazil, and poses its greatest danger to pregnant women. "With the risk of incidence of new infections of Zika virus in many countries ... it is estimated as an appropriate precautionary measure to defer donors who return from areas with Zika virus outbreaks," the WHO told the French news agency AFP. Doctors suspect the Zika virus is linked to a rare neurological condition called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. Brazil has reported more than 4,000 microcephaly cases since October. But experts are puzzled about why it is nearly nonexistent in other Latin American countries where the Zika virus is present.

Range of the Aedes mosquito​

Spain confirmed the virus Thursday in a pregnant woman who had recently traveled to Colombia. It was the first known pregnancy-related Zika case in Europe. The woman was among seven people who showed symptoms of Zika after visiting affected countries, the Health Ministry said, adding that she was under medical treatment in the northeastern region of Catalonia. Colombia's National Health Institute said last week that the country had recorded 20,297 cases of Zika infection, including 2,116 in pregnant women. In a statement released January 30, the institute recommended that couples delay pregnancy for six to eight months. There is currently no treatment for Zika. But a number of global pharmaceutical houses are rapidly working on a vaccine.

In the face of the recent increase in cases, the presidents of the United States and Brazil have agreed on the importance of collaborative efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff said Thursday that the two countries were working together to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus, but warned it might take some time. Meanwhile, officials in Panama said they were focusing their fight against Zika on the mosquito that carries the virus. Experts told AFP they were looking at releasing millions of genetically modified male Aedes mosquitoes who would mate with the females and result in offspring that die at the larval stage. Panama carried out such an experiment near Panama City in 2014, nearly wiping out a town's entire mosquito population.

WHO: Refuse Blood Donations From People Who Visited Zika-affected Areas

See also:

Colombia links Zika to rare nerve disorder deaths
Colombia says three people have died after contracting the Zika virus and developing a rare nerve disorder. Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said there was a "causal connection" between Zika, the Guillain-Barre disorder and the three deaths.

Earlier, Brazilian scientists said they had detected for the first time active samples of Zika in urine and saliva. However, it is not clear whether the virus can be transmitted through bodily fluids. Zika, a mosquito-borne disease, has been linked to cases of babies born in Brazil with microcephaly - underdeveloped brains. "We have confirmed and attributed three deaths to Zika," said the head of Colombia's National Health Institute, Martha Lucia Ospina. "In this case, the three deaths were preceded by Guillain-Barre syndrome." Guillain-Barre is a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system. It isn't normally fatal.

Colombia has launched a programme to kill the mosquitoes that spread Zika​

Ms Ospina said another six deaths were being investigated for possible links to Zika. "Other cases (of deaths linked to Zika) are going to emerge," she said. "The world is realising that Zika can be deadly. The mortality rate is not very high, but it can be deadly." Mr Gaviria said one of the fatalities took place in San Andres and the other two in Turbo, in Antioquia department. UK virologist Prof Jonathan Ball, of the University of Nottingham, told the BBC: "We have been saying Zika has been associated with Guillain-Barre. One of the complications of that could be respiratory failure. But it is still probably a very rare event."

Zika has been linked to cases of microcephaly in infants​

Although Zika usually causes mild, flu-like symptoms, it has been linked to thousands of suspected birth defects. However, it has not yet been proved that Zika causes either microcephaly or Guillain-Barre. The main method of infection is via mosquito bites but scientists in Brazil say tests on two patients revealed Zika can be found in other body fluids. Paulo Gadelha, the head of Brazil's Fiocruz Institute which is part of the Ministry of Health, said: "The presence of the active Zika virus has been found in saliva and urine. "But that does not mean there is a capacity for transmission through saliva and urine."

MORE

 

[waltky]

More than 3,100 pregnant women in Colombia Diagnosed with Zika...

More than 3,100 pregnant women in Colombia have Zika virus: government
Sat Feb 6, 2016 - More than 3,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday, as the disease continues its rapid spread across the Americas.

Brazil is investigating the potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by an abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika infection in 17 of these cases, either in the baby or in the mother, but have not confirmed that Zika can cause microcephaly. There are so far no recorded cases of Zika-linked microcephaly in Colombia, Santos said. The government is now uncertain about a previous projection for up to 500 cases of Zika-linked microcephaly, based on data from other countries battling the disease, he said. Much remains unknown about Zika, for which there is no vaccine. An estimated 80 percent of those infected show no symptoms, and those that do have a mild illness, with a fever, rash and red eyes.

A health worker sprays mosquito repellent on a pregnant woman's arm, during a campaign to fight the spread of Zika virus in Soledad municipality near Barranquilla, Colombia, in this February 1, 2016 handout photo supplied by the Soledad Municipality.​

There are 25,645 people infected with Zika in Colombia, Santos said during a TV broadcast with health officials. Among them are 3,177 pregnant women. "The projection is that we could end up having 600,000 cases," Santos said, adding there could be up to 1,000 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can weaken the muscles and cause paralysis. Scientists are studying a possible link between the disorder and Zika. The Colombian government will be working across the country to fight mosquitoes - fumigating and helping families rid their homes of stagnant water, the president said.

Health workers hand out mosquito repellent to a pregnant woman during a campaign to fight the spread of Zika virus in Soledad municipality near Barranquilla, Colombia, in this February 1, 2016 handout photo supplied by the Soledad Municipality.​

The province of Norte de Santander, along the eastern border with Venezuela, had nearly 5,000 Zika cases, the highest in the country, an epidemiological bulletin from the national health institute published on Saturday showed. That province also had the highest number of pregnant women with Zika - nearly 31 percent of total cases. Colombia's Caribbean region, which includes popular tourist destinations Cartagena and Santa Marta, had more than 11,000 cases of the virus, according to the bulletin. The government has said pregnant women with Zika are eligible to access much-restricted abortion services.

Many women struggle to find abortion providers even when they meet strict legal requirements and illegal abortions are widespread. On Friday, local media reported the first abortion because of Zika infection. Colombia's health minister, Alejandro Gaviria, has said he believes three deaths are connected with Zika.

More than 3,100 pregnant women in Colombia have Zika virus: government

See also:

Zika Virus Dubbed Inconsequential Except for Link to Microcephaly
February 05, 2016 - A Zika virus outbreak has been exploding in South and Central America and the Caribbean, but experts say that except for the possible link with microcephaly, the epidemic probably would have gone largely unnoticed.

It is that suspected connection with microcephaly — a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains — that is causing alarm. "We don't know the degree of the connection, whether it's truly causal, whether there's Zika plus something else resulting in the microcephaly, whether it's Zika interacting with something else or if it has nothing at all to do with Zika,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. “We don't know for sure, but the evidence of the association is rather strong."

Health promoter Marielos Sosa deposits fish in a water tank at a local school for a mosquito control project at San Diego village in La Libertad, El Salvador​

Still, he pointed out that Colombia has had a large outbreak of Zika, but no association with microcephaly. Eighty percent of the people who get Zika don't know they have it. The other 20 percent get a mild fever, mild rash and conjunctivitis, or pink eye. The virus goes away in a few days.

‘Perfect storm’ in Americas

Zika is named after the Zika forest of Uganda where it was first identified decades ago. The virus then migrated to Southeast Asia, before hopping across the Pacific and making its way to Brazil. Zika was new to the Americas. People there had never been exposed to it and had no immunity. But the type of mosquito that carries Zika thrives in Brazil's crowded cities. This mosquito lives in water cisterns, can breed in tiny amounts of water, bites during the day and likes to live indoors. "So you had the perfect storm: a naive population to the particular infection, a real problem with the mosquito and mosquito-transmitted diseases," said Fauci.

A Colombian health worker gives travelers information on how to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, at the main bus terminal in Bogota, Colombia​

Zika has spread to some 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. There have been cases in the U.S., and health experts, including Fauci, expect to see small outbreaks of Zika in Florida, Texas and along the Gulf of Mexico. But experts don't expect to see massive outbreaks in the U.S. because Americans' exposure to mosquitoes is limited through the use of air conditioning and window screens.

Education key

 

[Agit8r]

So, what part of the vaccine is responsible for the microcephaly?

 

[emilynghiem]

We Have the Technology to Destroy All Zika Mosquitoes

 

[waltky]

Effective in mouse tests...

Promising Vaccines Developed Against Zika Virus
June 28, 2016 - In February, the World Health Organization declared the Zika epidemic a global public health emergency. Since then, drugmakers have been working to create vaccines that could protect against it. Two have proven extremely effective in mouse experiments.

One of the drugs is a so-called DNA vaccine, engineered from a single Zika viral protein. The other is a purified inactivated, or killed, virus — the same technology used to make the original polio vaccine. Dan Barouch, a professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard University and an infectious diseases specialist, says both vaccines stimulate the production of immune system antibodies that protect mice from infection by the Zika virus. "And the protection was striking. The protection was complete,” he said. “All of the mice that received the vaccine showed no virus in the bloodstream after challenge, whereas all the mice that did not receive the vaccines became infected and had high levels of virus in the bloodstream. One of the important points is that the protection could be achieved by a single immunization." Researchers describe their work in the journal Nature.

Material to prevent Zika infection by mosquitoes are displayed at the 69th World Health Assembly at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland​

Brazil has been particularly hard hit by Zika. Many pregnant women who are infected with the virus give birth to babies with a congenital defect called microcephaly, which causes an abnormally small head. The children suffer from a host of problems, including intellectual disability, seizures and motor problems. The virus also has been implicated in Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralytic illness that mostly strikes adults. Nelson Michael, director of the military HIV program at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, is co-author of the Nature article.

Pediatrician Alexia Harrist from the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) takes a picture of 3-month-old Shayde Henrique who was born with microcephaly, after examining him in Joao Pessoa, Brazil​

He says the vaccines are in production now, and researchers hope to begin human trials in October. "I would say, at this point, no one is really in a position to say if it's going to jump ahead of expanded safety studies. But I can tell you it's going to move very quickly," he said. While pregnant women are most at risk from Zika, Michael says the initial trials will begin with healthy women who could become pregnant. If enough people are vaccinated, he added, that could extend protection to pregnant women, who might not need the vaccine. Both vaccines could be available as early as next year.

Promising Vaccines Developed Against Zika Virus

See also:

US Senate Fails to Pass $1.1B in Funding to Fight Zika
June 28, 2016 — Fight over abortion-provider Planned Parenthood delays congressional action on Zika for at least two weeks[/b]

With mosquito season well underway in the United States, the U.S. Senate blocked new funds to fight the Zika virus Tuesday, prompting furious partisan finger-pointing in the oft-gridlocked chamber. After months of prodding majority Republicans to act on Zika, Democrats banded together to defeat $1.1 billion in emergency funding. The measure needed three-fifths backing to advance, but it received just 52 votes in the 100-member Senate. “If there was ever a bill designed to fail, it’s what the Republicans put together on Zika,” said New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. “This country is on the verge of a public health crisis,” said Republican John Cornyn of Texas. “We know they (mosquitos) are coming, and we need to act with dispatch.”

Democrats objected to cost offsets that Republicans inserted into the legislation, including cuts to Planned Parenthood, a non-profit women’s health care organization and the nation’s largest provider of abortions. “It’s four months late, it’s $800 billion short, and it cannibalizes funding from other important health priorities,” said Schumer. Republicans noted that Senate Democrats already agreed to the $1.1-billion funding level, a significant reduction from the $1.9 billion requested by the Obama administration earlier this year. Furthermore, Republicans argued the bill compensates for cuts to Planned Parenthood by boosting funds to community health centers that do not perform abortions. “This legislation is the last chance we have to get Zika-control funding to the president’s desk for weeks,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "We should pass it to protect those especially at risk, like pregnant women.”

Material to prevent Zika infection by mosquitoes are displayed at the 69th World Health Assembly at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland​

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is blamed for devastating birth defects. Given that the virus can be transmitted sexually, cuts to family planning providers defy logic, according to Democrats. “We know that [Zika] poses the biggest danger to pregnant women and their unborn children, many of whom rely on Planned Parenthood,” Schumer said. “But Republicans can’t miss a chance to whack [cut funds to] Planned Parenthood, even if their services are exactly what can help prevent the spread of this debilitating virus.” Anti-abortion Republicans have long sought to eliminate federal funding to Planned Parenthood, often by inserting measures into critical legislation. Democrats have fought back using the filibuster, a procedural blocking maneuver in the Senate, as well as President Barack Obama's veto authority. Zika funding has had a convoluted legislative path on Capitol Hill. An original Senate bill, approved with bipartisan support, provided $1.1 billion with no budgetary offsets. It conflicted with a House version that funded the effort at a much lower level. A conference between the two Republican-led chambers produced the measure that was blocked Tuesday in the Senate.

The Obama administration first requested Zika funding in February, and it has shifted unspent revenues from the fight against Ebola while waiting for Congress to act. The House of Representatives adjourned last week, and neither chamber will be in session next week in observance of the July 4 Independence Day holiday. When lawmakers return, they will have only a few weeks to act on Zika before the annual August recess. “When we get back [July 11], we’ll address this matter again, and hopefully respond as our constituents all across America are asking us to respond,” McConnell said. Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida, a state particularly at risk for Zika, expressed disbelief over Congress’ inability to approve emergency funds. “If it’s an earthquake, a flood, a wildfire, a hurricane – we have always stepped forth [with funds],” Nelson said. “And if you don’t believe that this Zika crisis is an emergency, well just wait.”

US Senate Fails to Pass $1.1B in Funding to Fight Zika

 

[waltky]

Zika vaccine could be available next year...

Vaccines to combat Zika Virus could be available by early next year
Wednesday 29th June, 2016 - In February, the World Health Organization declared the Zika epidemic a global public health emergency. Since then, drugmakers have been working to create vaccines that could protect against it.

Two have proven extremely effective in mouse experiments. One of the drugs is a so-called DNA vaccine, engineered from a single Zika viral protein. The other is a purified inactivated, or killed, virus - the same technology used to make the original polio vaccine.

Dan Barouch, a professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard University and an infectious diseases specialist, says both vaccines stimulate the production of immune system antibodies that protect mice from infection by the Zika virus. "And the protection was striking. The protection was complete," he said. "All of the mice that received the vaccine showed no virus in the bloodstream after challenge, whereas all the mice that did not receive the vaccines became infected and had high levels of virus in the bloodstream. One of the important points is that the protection could be achieved by a single immunization."

Researchers describe their work in the journal Nature.

Brazil has been particularly hard hit by Zika. Many pregnant women who are infected with the virus give birth to babies with a congenital defect called microcephaly, which causes an abnormally small head. The children suffer from a host of problems, including intellectual disability, seizures and motor problems. The virus also has been implicated in Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralytic illness that mostly strikes adults.

Nelson Michael, director of the military HIV program at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, is co-author of the Nature article. He says the vaccines are in production now, and researchers hope to begin human trials in October. "I would say, at this point, no one is really in a position to say if it's going to jump ahead of expanded safety studies. But I can tell you it's going to move very quickly," he said.

While pregnant women are most at risk from Zika, Michael says the initial trials will begin with healthy women who could become pregnant. If enough people are vaccinated, he added, that could extend protection to pregnant women, who might not need the vaccine. Both vaccines could be available as early as next year.

Vaccines to combat Zika Virus could be available by early next year