Why the United States is so vulnerable to the alarming spread of Zika virus

[applegrove]

Why the United States is so vulnerable to the alarming spread of Zika virus

By Lena H. Sun and Brady Dennis at the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/why-the-united-states-is-vulnerable-to-spread-of-zika-virus/2016/01/26/a8c6a9b4-c440-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html

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With the Zika virus now circulating in two dozen countries and territories across the Americas, the mosquito-borne pathogen seems destined to reach the United States and likely sooner rather than later.

What is far less certain, say public health and infectious disease experts, is Zika’s potential reach and impact here. The South is seen as vulnerable because of its warm, humid climate and pockets of poverty where more people live without air-conditioning or proper window screens. Plus, the region is already home to mosquitoes that can transmit the virus.

Some models estimate as many as 200 million people live in areas that might be conducive to the spread of Zika during summer months — including the East and West coasts and much of the Midwest. That makes for a huge target as researchers scramble to determine exactly how the virus manifests itself in the human body, who is particularly at risk, and why.

Their urgency comes amid reports from Brazil, the epicenter of Zika, of thousands of newborns with a rare condition involving brain damage. Doctors there have also seen a surge in another rare syndrome, Guillain-Barré, which can lead to paralysis. With both, a link to Zika is suspected.




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[applegrove]

1. Global Climate Change is just going to make it all worse.

[Sienna86]

2. Even with screens and precautions, one step outside puts you at risk

For a mosquito bite. That's here in the Midwest. I imagine it far riskier with mosquito bites in the south.

[applegrove]

4. It isn't any mosquito. We've been told in Canada we don't get the kind of mosquitos that carry Zika.

And we have tons of mosquitos in spring/summer.

[BillZBubb]

3. Houston and New Orleans could become ghost towns.

They've got lots of mosquitos for a good portion of the year.

[kentauros]

10. Yeah, but I don't know anyone here in Houston

that lives either without a/c or good screens. Besides keeping out the flying cockroaches, people also want to keep out gnats, and mosquitoes.

[MuseRider]

5. Guillain-Barré.

I used to work as a critical care nurse in an ICU. We saw quite a lot of GB patients. Most came through it eventually OK but some did not. Still, it is frightening to patients who gradually lose the ability to move from the toes up. Almost all ended up on a ventilator for a while. Some have lasting problems.

[applegrove]

6. Scary.

[PasadenaTrudy]

8. A friend of mine

had GB. Really scary. Don't know how she got it either. We are in SoCal.

[Marr]

7. Oh, this one's got legs.

It's got a creepy, foreign sounding name that sounds like some kind of curse. This will captivate our cowardly populace.

[applegrove]

9. I don't have a problem with pregnant women being warned

to stay out of dangerous areas. I don't have a problem with world health authorities ramping up plans and actions. Remember it took them a while to get going with ebola protocols and thousands died because of it.