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Zika Virus

My best friend is on his way to Rio right now to do some Olympic planning for his company and is pretty worried about getting this virus. His company does work for the golf competition and he is going to be spending some time walking the course. I imagine they are spraying for mosquitos like crazy but it would still be in the back of my head the whole time.
 
After seeing that the mosquito that carries the Zika Virus is now in 30 US States, I would be so scared to be a pregnant woman right now.
 
We just got back from Cancun and are planning to line up some tests for Zika. They supposedly aren't very good, though...
 
KEV said:
My best friend is on his way to Rio right now to do some Olympic planning for his company and is pretty worried about getting this virus. His company does work for the golf competition and he is going to be spending some time walking the course. I imagine they are spraying for mosquitos like crazy but it would still be in the back of my head the whole time.
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I wouldn't assume that. At. All. I'd plan appropriately. Long sleeved shirts, long pants, lots of DEET repellent, and treat clothing with permethrin.

Of course, this post is 6 weeks late so ...
 
The tough thing was I saw one single mosquito on our trip, but I know that I got bit multiple times.
 
Canadan said:
All the more reason to travel locally and spend your hard earned money in America, friends.
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Best advice I 've heard in a long time!!!
 
GolferGal said:
Sadly, that might not matter anymore. The type of mosquito that carries the Zika Virus has now been found in 30 states in the US.
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One of the big issues in Brazil was the decision not to do anything to control the spread of the mosquitos. Now that they've been found here I would bet that the US wont make that mistake and will treat.

There was a really good interview with a Brazilian epidemiologist that talked about this (I think, the person may have had a different role) on NPR. I will try to dig it up.
 
mpeterson said:
One of the big issues in Brazil was the decision not to do anything to control the spread of the mosquitos. Now that they've been found here I would bet that the US wont make that mistake and will treat.

There was a really good interview with a Brazilian epidemiologist that talked about this (I think, the person may have had a different role) on NPR. I will try to dig it up.
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I am sure we will do way more than they did. Obama made a statement saying we might have a vaccine for it by September, but the CDC is saying it's a much bigger issue and concern then they ever imagined. Will be interesting to follow.

All I know is I am glad I am not pregnant right now, those birth defects are so scary.
 
Girardcorp said:
A whole bunch of "well we don't know as usual". And with that, I'll remember the story my dad says that when he was a kid they used to run behind the trucks spraying as they went down the streets.
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Uh, not sure how you got that from that article. As with a lot of things, the discussion needs to weigh the pros and cons of the use of DDT. If other methods work more effectively, no need to use the option which can really f**k the entire ecosystem.

Just like if you go to war, your first option typically isn't a nuclear bomb because, well ... that's a last resort type weapon.
 
deuce said:
Uh, not sure how you got that from that article. As with a lot of things, the discussion needs to weigh the pros and cons of the use of DDT. If other methods work more effectively, no need to use the option which can really f**k the entire ecosystem.

Just like if you go to war, your first option typically isn't a nuclear bomb because, well ... that's a last resort type weapon.
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Yup - there have also been other methods developed for mosquito control, which I'd imagine they'll try first to get the population down. It's like with antibiotics - you give people first line antibiotics first, as to not completely screw up their system.

Honestly, the biggest thing we can probably do to avoid wide-scale outbreaks is clean up our cities. Standing water and trash is basically a recipe for breeding.
 
"To only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt as to DDT… In little more than two decades, DDT has prevented 500 million human deaths, due to malaria, that otherwise would have been inevitable.” [National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Research in the Life Sciences of the Committee on Science and Public Policy. 1970. The Life Sciences; Recent
Progress and Application to Human Affairs; The World of Biological Research; Requirements for the Future.]

I'm guessing it would be effective in controlling other mosquito borne diseases, such as zika.
 
JohnSinVA said:
"To only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt as to DDT… In little more than two decades, DDT has prevented 500 million human deaths, due to malaria, that otherwise would have been inevitable.” [National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Research in the Life Sciences of the Committee on Science and Public Policy. 1970. The Life Sciences; Recent
Progress and Application to Human Affairs; The World of Biological Research; Requirements for the Future.]

I'm guessing it would be effective in controlling other mosquito borne diseases, such as zika.
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I'm not saying it won't be effective, but there are a LOT of suggestions you can take based on research and opinions from 1970 that would turn out terribly long-term.

That said, I think the consensus these days w.r.t. DDT is that agricultural/widespread use is likely to have ecosystem effects, though house treatments in high risk areas (mostly tropical areas) is a potential use case limiting large-scale effects on the environment.
 
mpeterson said:
I'm not saying it won't be effective, but there are a LOT of suggestions you can take based on research and opinions from 1970 that would turn out terribly long-term.

That said, I think the consensus these days w.r.t. DDT is that agricultural/widespread use is likely to have ecosystem effects, though house treatments in high risk areas (mostly tropical areas) is a potential use case limiting large-scale effects on the environment.
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We went over this a couple of months ago, and my thoughts have not changed. There are plenty of things that can be done to mitigate and control mosquitoes in the US that will reduce the risk/rate of Zika infection. I'm all for using DDT in-home, particularly in bed bug infestations (it's about the only thing that works), but wholesale spraying of DDT for mosquitoes isn't necessary.
 
mpeterson said:
I'm not saying it won't be effective, but there are a LOT of suggestions you can take based on research and opinions from 1970 that would turn out terribly long-term.

That said, I think the consensus these days w.r.t. DDT is that agricultural/widespread use is likely to have ecosystem effects, though house treatments in high risk areas (mostly tropical areas) is a potential use case limiting large-scale effects on the environment.
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My quote posted above was taken from the link I posted a while back. It'll take a while to go through everything, but the banning of DDT was based much less on "research" and much more on "opinion".
 
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