Zika virus/fever is in the news these days as a suspected cause of microcephaly. The news isn’t exactly clear what the connection is. Is it:
A)women who experience a bout of Zika fever (the illness caused by Zika virus) during pregnancy are at elevated risk for delivering a child afflicted with microcephaly, or
B)women who have experienced a bout of Zika fever at any time in the past are forevermore carriers of the virus, and any future pregnancy presents elevated risk of microcephaly?
My guess is A, and that it infects the placenta and fetus and in its own way impairs brain growth.
I listened to a doctor at UTMB in Galveston (where my father went to medical school) who was interviewed about the virus on NPR recently.
The answer is A. He indicated that the virus has an incubation period of up to approximately two weeks, and that a woman should therefore wait at least three weeks or so after any potential exposure before becoming pregnant.
So, rather than the government of El Salvador telling women they shouldn’t have a baby for the next two years, they should be telling them to get tested to see if they’ve had it before getting pregnant?
Conceivably, they might have gotten it too recently for a test to detect it.
In a perfect world that would be reasonable. However it’s not easy or cheap to have a comprehensive testing program for every young woman in El Salvador. Also, tests for Zika are apparently unreliable since there are a lot of false positives caused by current or past infections with dengue, a related virus.
There’s an excellent overview of the history of research and epidemiology of the Zika virus at Ars Technica.
How strong is the link to microcephaly? The first reports I heard, it sounded like a strong likelihood, but now I hear that the link is “suspected.”
There is a correlation, but not definitive proof. Basically, zika infection during pregnancy was something a lot of these women had in common. A certain number of babies are born every year with condition to mothers with no exposure to that particular virus, but the number of microcephalic babies and zika-infected pregnant women jumped at the same point in time.
This somewhat reminds me of when West Nile Virus came to North America - you had it sweep through a population with no prior exposure, resulting in a number of deaths, and not just among humans but also among wildlife. Fast-forward several years and most humans in North America have probably had at least the mild version (which may not even be noticed by the infected person), deaths have dropped off dramatically, and the affected wildlife populations, such as the crows, have been building their numbers back up to pre-infection levels.
I expect the same thing will happen here - you’ll have zika move to new territories, there will be a jump in recorded infections, then it will level off to a very minor/rare illness since having it once seems to confer lifetime immunity. As the virus does not remain in the body once the person recovers, I also expect that the danger is in getting the virus while pregnant and women who have had the zika virus will be able to have uneventful pregnancies and no greater than normal risk after they clear the virus from their systems.
Assuming that Aedes aegypti moves into the entire U.S., this sounds a lot like rubella.
According to this Q&A article:
Your questions about Zika virus, answered by an expert by Jessica Marmor Shaw, MarketWatch.com, published today Feb 1, 2016:
They think, but aren’t entirely sure yet, that when you recover from Zika, the virus is totally gone from your body, and poses no future risk to either you or a future baby. (As opposed to chickenpox, which stays with you forever and ever.) (ETA: Questions #5 and 6.)
Another question that I was specifically trying to find an answer for, that doesn’t seem to be addressed much:
Once you get Zika, are you immune to it thereafter?
The various discussions of a possible vaccine seem to imply so. But the above-linked article is the first I have seen that addresses this question explicitly:
ETA: So maybe mothers with young children should arrange Zika parties for their kids? :rolleyes:
Surprised no one is talking about the first sexually transmitted Zika Virus case in Dallas county TX.
Have not done a whole lot of research but what I found is from Brazilian Ministry of Health stating that in 2014 the schedule of vaccines for pregnant woman included diphtheria, tetanis and the newly developed pertussis (Tdap).
Report by Prof. Alexander Vranjac.
Oxitech is the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the Tdap vaccine. One of the main contributors to this vaccine (ATCC VR-84) development is Bill Gates & The Rockefeller Foundation.
The genitally modified mosquito that carries the Zika virus has a name." GMO Mosquito OX513A "
(Aedes aegypti)
In 1947 in Uganda a rhesus macaque monkey was found to have the Zika virus. So the virus emerged from a macaque monkey and was first transmitted to humans in 1968. So the virus has been around for awhile, but what I don’t understand is why the sudden explosion with this disease?
I always bust out the tinfoil hat when I see Bill Gates and or Rockefeller involved in anything like this. Did those guys have some crystal ball that they could predict this Zika thing was going to mean BIG money later on down the road.
Now that it’s confirmed to be sexually transmitted the fear is there for folks to run out and get the
ATCC VR-84 vaccine?
Flame away
Why would they get a vaccine for tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis if they are afraid of zika? If they are asking for just any old vaccine because they are ascairt and ignorant, why not chicken pox or HPV or polio vaccine?
The ATCC VR-84 Vaccine is the Zika virus vaccine which I was referring to.
It’s not a vaccine. It’s the virus, which can be purchased for research.
OK, maybe i am confused:confused:
The references I have looked at reads as if ATCC VR-84 is a product.
So that makes things even stranger if Rockefeller and Gates have interest in this virus. Either way I smell a rat$$$$$$$$
Best username/typo combination ever, as in the entire history of the SDMB. You’ve left the mark of a supreme swordsman. At least, I assume it’s a typo.
ATCCis a non-profit organization that collects, catalogs, and distributes reference microorganisms for research purposes. They provide samples for a fee. As mentioned ATCC VR-84 is the catalog number for the Zika virus.
Also, OX513A is a genetically modified strain of the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti). It was designed to reduce wild mosquito populations. The modified males are released to mate with wild females, but can’t produce viable offspring. It wasn’t originally designed to combat Zika, but several other diseases, such as yellow fever, chikungunya and dengue, which can all be carried by that species of mosquito.
Wow! Thanks for the info, I had no idea!
It’s just pure stupidity in my opinion to introduce anything not indigenous to a region for any reason. Rarely turns out to benefit the environment:(
Not sure what this means but thanks?
Not a typo, but the story goes I once played in cover band that covered many Dead songs and I would throw extra notes in occasionally. Our drummer was a pretty serious musician and would get pissed at me for “improvising” with extras.
He started calling me Jerry’s missing finger. 