How serious do you find Zika Virus threat?

[Valka]

The word that comes to mind when I see "arboreal" is "trees."

[Unorthodox]

The word that comes to mind when I see "arboreal" is "trees."

Yep.  They primarily live in trees as an adult. 

[Rusty Edge]

https://www.yahoo.com/health/zika-virus-transmitted-through-sexual-contact-in-210356877.html

"A person in Dallas County, Texas, has contracted the Zika virus through sexual contact with an infected person who had visited a country where an outbreak has been identified. Local health officials confirmed via the Dallas County Health and Human Services Twitter account, writing “Dallas County’s 1st case of #Zika thru sex was acquired from someone who traveled to Venezuela, confirmed case did not travel.”


Several cases of Zika virus had been confirmed across the United States, but only among people who were believed to have contracted the virus while traveling abroad in countries with active Zika virus outbreaks. The case in Dallas is the first time that experts believe a person with Zika symptoms contracted the virus within the United States."


Well, we now have a confirmed case of sexual transmission between humans in Texas. So we got a new vector. That's gonna complicate stuff.

[Rusty Edge]

Mosquito transmitted cases in south Florida.

Florida can no longer contribute to the blood supply. Most likely people will be banned from donating for 4 weeks after visiting it, too.  It's one of our most populous states.

So, if you can donate blood, please do.

[Buster's Uncle]

I dunno, man - I was in college during the AIDS scare and gave every time there was a blood mobile around and I was free - and I'm not stretching when I speculate the Zika screening is both annoying and insulting.  The pain of the needles and getting syphoned was nothing compared to the red tape and insults, getting worse every year...

[Rusty Edge]

I'm used to it because I've been donating it all of my life. I never needed a transfusion, but living in a farming and lumbering community- accidents happen and there's never a convenient time to go to the emergency room, so we made it appoint to make time to donate, there was no telling when we might be the ones in need.

There are always more particular questions when they are trying to get a handle on a new peril. First it was AIDS, then it was mad cow, for a while it was steroids, and now it's Zika. Well, they have simply put a 4 week moratorium on travel to affected areas.

Millenials are the largest demographic group, but the trouble with them is there's a 6 month moratorium after getting a tattoo or piercing.

*********

So, Zika is now in the USA. It can be spread both sexually and by multiple species of mosquito. There are no tests or vaccines. It cause brain damage to the unborn, and progressive paralysis to a % of healthy adults. Because of that, they have to be careful with the blood supply. So far, Puerto Rico and Florida are contaminated and unable to supply their own blood. Judging by the speed of the spread of West Nile years ago, I suspect another Gulf Coast state will be scratched from donation eligibility before frost. It it's Texas, that's a serious problem for anybody that needs a transfusion- E.R. patients, people who need heart surgery, etc.

Anyway, if you know some people that used to donate, or some church people, please spread the word.

I'm going search to see if there's any word on tests and vaccines.

[Rusty Edge]

8.
 How do I know if I’ve been infected? Is there a test?
It’s often a silent infection and hard to diagnose.


Only one of five infected people develop symptoms. There is currently no rapid test that can be done in a doctor’s office; tests must be sent to sophisticated laboratories, which delays diagnosis.

The surest way to detect the virus itself is with a blood or urine sample gathered in the first two weeks or less after symptoms appear. Antibody tests can be done later but, because the disease is closely related to dengue and yellow fever, false positives and false negatives may occur, especially in areas where those diseases circulate. More complex “neutralization assay testing” can lower the false-positive rate, but not eliminate it.

****

Vaccines are another matter. One vaccine is ready for human testing. A universal vaccine "could take years"

But there has been a breakthrough-

"A vaccine for Zika could be developed based on previous work to successfully develop Yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue vaccines, de Silva said. Currently, there are three phase-three clinical trials for a dengue vaccine and UNC is collaborating with vaccine developers to understand data from these trials. "

More stuff to say that immunity to dengue fever could work against zika, but  there are of course priorities in vaccinations once something is available-

women of child-bearing age
their partners
the elderly ( who are most likely to get Guiome Barre syndrome )
others

[Spacy]

Cannot donate blood, so not that big of a deal to me.  Nor, do I plan on having any kids. 

So, no big deal. 

[Buster's Uncle]

I feel much more seriously threatened, now.

Before, it was just a terrible thing on the news, but if that crap makes it this far north, I've had a mosquito problem already since it got warm, and I don't see any way shy of never going outside to be safe, if the local mosquitos had the zika.  I'm kinda married to continuing the Kat Frend Progect -and I get saddled with all the burger grilling- so that's a real potential problem...

It's not like my head works all that smoothly already; I can't afford having the top fall off.  More seriously, my health is not what it used to be, and I don't need any optional problems.

[Rusty Edge]

My recent concern has been the blood supply. When you start putting the most populous states on the deferred donors list, that spells critical shortages, which should be everyone's concern.

[Buster's Uncle]

They just showed a projection map on ABC that had it reaching Virginia - no idea when.

[Spacy]

It is based off the species of mosquito that caries the virus.  How fast can a mosquito fly?  Also, how does the virus actually spread?  If a person has the virus and gets bitten by a skeeter, and the skeeter bites someone else the next day, does that next person get it?  No idea, but those are the two main issues at work here.

[Valka]

Mosquitoes are one reason why I don't go outside much in summer. Except that for us here, it's not Zika that people worry about. It's West Nile virus. It's been confirmed to have made it as far as Alberta several years ago, and therefore I do everything possible to avoid mosquitoes.

[Unorthodox]

There's a confirmed case of non-sexual non-travel transmission in Utah.  An elderly man (contracted from traveling) passed it to his grandson (we don't know how) from his deathbed.  They don't THINK it was mosquitoes either as the locals shouldn't be able to transmit.   Which, if there's now a new vector, this could get crazy scary. 

[Unorthodox]

http://www.pctonline.com/article/utah-zika-case-stumps-researchers/

Utah Zika Case Stumps Researchers

A caregiver wasn't exposed to Zika in a way that would transmit the virus, at least from what's currently known about Zika, LiveScience reports.

July 22, 2016


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Public Health Pests


In a puzzling case, a person in Utah became infected with the Zika virus, but health officials can't figure out how the person contracted it, Live Science reports.

The infected person was a caregiver for an elderly man who had Zika. But the case is mysterious: As far as health officials can tell, the caregiver wasn't exposed to Zika in a way that would transmit the virus, at least from what's currently known about Zika. So far, the only way Zika was thought to spread from person to person is through sexual contact, and the caregiver did not have sexual contact with anyone who had Zika.