Distributing sterile/non-viable sperm male mosquitoes for pest control dates back a couple decades now.
Since the offspring of these modified males can not reproduce the modification never becomes part of the wild population. It doesn’t wipe out the mosquito population but it does cut down on the numbers of them. Aedes aegypti is the name of the mosquito species in the wild, the genetically modified ones are gene-modded A. aegypti.
There is, right now, no vaccine for the zika virus.
Not sure why you think Tdap (or tDap or any other variant) is new - it’s been around for years. I had one back in 2008. What may be new is availability to poor people in the region affected by zika, but honestly, it’s a good vaccine, the more people who can get it the better.
The 1947 rhesus infection was merely when the virus was first *identified *- it might have been around for thousands of years, just unrecognized. It was first identified in humans in 1968, again, it might have been infecting people off and on for thousands of years without being noted as a separate disease. The possibility of sexual transmission was mentioned weeks ago, the case in Dallas is the first in Dallas, it’s not the first ever.
There is a sudden “explosion” because the disease is new to the Western Hemisphere and few, if any, have an immunity to it. There will be high rates of infection until pretty much every has had it, then it will fade into the background. We saw something similar with West Nile Virus erupting in the West - lots of infections the first few years, fewer every year since then.
Depends on what you want. Introducing maize, potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers might have been bad for the native species, but it was pretty good for humans (despite some problems). Likewise horses and cattle in the Americas. Yes, bad things can happen. But nothing is in stasis - things change. Sometimes for good and sometimes for bad and sometimes to no negative or positive impact (as far as humans are concerned). Yes, be prudent, but introducing foreign (or genetically modified) elements to an environment can be of great benefit. As far as I’m aware, there’s been no known negative impact to the modified mosquitoes.
Distributing sterile/non-viable sperm male mosquitoes for pest control dates back a couple decades now.
** I’ve heard of this technique to slow the population of killer bees
There is, right now, no vaccine for the zika virus. I have heard talk of a vaccine being introduced this year. I always thought it took years of research before introducing a vaccine to the general public. If there is a vaccine rolled out this year, i would find that suspect. Would you agree?
**Not sure why you think Tdap (or tDap or any other variant) is new - it’s been around for years. I had one back in 2008. What may be new is availability to poor people in the region affected by zika, but honestly, it’s a good vaccine, the more people who can get it the better.
** Got this info off of Brazil’s Health Organization cite. I don’t know if it’s new or not but apparently not.
The possibility of sexual transmission was mentioned weeks ago, the case in Dallas is the first in Dallas, it’s not the first ever.
Could not find any information on Zika being sexually transmitted in the past. Have a link?
**There will be high rates of infection until pretty much every has had it, then it will fade into the background.
** Hope you are correct. Do you have some kind of background in infectious disease?
i’m so ignorant to these kinds of things. I have friends in the south who are freaking out over this so I started looking into it. Thanks for the info
Right, it has also been used in the US to stop the spread of the New World screwworm. Basically a fly where the maggots can eat still alive flesh. Typically other species just feast on dead meat, not actively feasting and digging on living tissue. They used sterile screwworms way back then (I think they were irradiated?).
There is no vaccine right now. Even for Ebola, the vaccines are still in clinical trials (last I heard). The only two possible mosquito-transmitted diseases that have vaccines in pipeline are dengue and malaria, both of them MUCH more serious than Zika virus. If Zika virus evolved in Africa and is a background disease there, dengue and malaria are in the same regions and they still kill a lot of people.
Also, note again that Zika disease, for the majority of humans, is actually milder than dengue and chikungunya. The only part where it seems to cause serious damage is during pregnancy, and not to the mother but to the fetus. That is what the deal is about. Adults, meh… lots of babies with brain defects, yikes! Particularly in countries where the infrastructure is not there to attend their needs.
The woo-news scare part is that the Brazilian women received the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy, and that this was a new thing. Unless that vaccine difers significantly from the one used in other countries, the recommendation to vaccinate pregnant women with Tdap is present in other countries, including the US. None of them, so far, have reported an increase in birth defects after the introduction of the vaccine.
Broomstick may not, but I do, and I just went this past Sunday to a symposium dealing with that disease in the country I lived in (Trinidad, so far Zika free but surrounded by Zika). Her explanations are an abridged version of some of the explanations given to us as to why the disease is appearing now, and why the fuss.
Also point out that the disease caused an outbreak in French Polynesia before appearing in Brazil. And yes, they’re going back to those cases to investigate more about the epidemiology and outcomes in that situation.
So I’m trying to figure out where you’re going with this. Bill Gates gives away huge sums of money every year to vaccinate people in poor countries, and you’re saying… that this is some kind of… money making scheme? Or what?
It reminded of an ancient joke, not a very good one, about three swordsmen who are boasting about the precision with which they can handle a sword. I first read it in Playboy Magazine when I was a teenager. I think the swordsmen are Japanese, but I digress. The first swordsman releases a housefly from a box and neatly severs it in half, mid-air. The second swordsman does the same thing but cuts his fly into four pieces. The third swordsman releases his fly, flicks his saber, and the fly buzzes away, apparently intact. The first two say to the third “so what does that prove? The fly is still alive.” The third swordsman replies “yes, but he will never reproduce.”
Just to be sure, I tracked down the original quote to see if it really was a typo. It was. They didn’t breed mosquitos without shlongs; it was a genetically modified mosquito.
There was a recent discussion on this subject about the very high rate of false positives in the initial reporting from Brazil. Of the thousands of cases initially reported only a few hundred have been confirmed. So the actual rate of birth defects from the virus (if that is really the cause) is much lower than initially feared. It is clear that there is a problem, no one doubts that, but it isn’t turning out to be thousands of cases in Brazil alone. Hundreds instead of tens, but not thousands.
And this is how it should be. According to the NY Times article, when a new public health issue first pops up, the national medical authorities should and and in this case did specify a relatively loose definition for reporting. This collects lots of data from which the real rates can be determined. Only this way can sufficient data be collected quickly. But it does mean that the initial news reports are greatly exaggerated.
Brazil is currently in the process of tightening the definition of microcephaly to get more accurate reporting.
That’s some funny shit there!
My dad used to collect Playboys and believe it or not i did read the jokes and interviews, especially musician interviews.
To be honest, i don’t really know where I’m going with this lol
Just trying to figure out why some of the richest people in the world are so involved in vaccines. This vaccine shit is out of control in my opinion and it’s all built on fear, but no worries Bill Gates and The Rockefeller foundation is here to save us all. I don’t get it:confused:
Not my money but teen homelessness is a pretty big issue. Just as an example ofcourse
Because there have always been rich philanthropists - either because they genuinely care or because it’s good PR, and vaccines are a very good way of lessening suffering/saving lives. A few doses (sometimes only one), and that person is protected for life. Get everyone for a generation and the disease might be wiped out forever (if it doesn’t have non-human hosts). Philanthropist’s name might just end up in the history books (matters to some people). Indeed, I once saw speculation that Bill Gates’ name might be remember long after Steve Jobs’ was forgotten, not because of Microsoft or Apple, but because of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. This conversation was, coincidentally, tied specifically to discussion of the Gates Foundation attempts to end malaria, a mosquito-borne disease.
There is not a more deadly insect in the world than the mosquito. Modifying mosquitoes is not a correct answer especially when rich philanthropist own the patent to the disease, which can be bought online:confused:
If we can develop a vaccine, then we wouldn’t have to modify mosquitoes, would we? As for buying the virus on line, a lab wishing to experiment with it - either testing vaccines or studying its genetics - needs the virus. Would you prefer they go to Brazil for it?
I wasn’t aware that anyone held a patent on the virus, but if you can figure out a way of stopping the spread of the virus by suing mosquitoes for patent infringement, you’d win a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
It could also be that people with their own resources don’t think conventional government-run programs are working fast enough to make a difference, so they are stepping-in. Some diseases are within reach of eradicating (guinea worm), but there is no private investment since there is little to no return, and to have a wealthy nation step-in would involve using tax dollars, which a large chunk of people in the US would complain about. So, concerned people like Jimmy Carter put his name and reputation on the line to try and make a positive difference in the world. I don’t think Carter stands to profit - it’s just altruism. Same reason people volunteer for a cause that is meaningful to them.
Again keep in mind this is something that had been done before. Sterile screwworm flies (and I think they used radiation in that case) were used to control the spread of them in the US, effectively making screwworm disease, which is present in other parts of the Americas, effectively a foreign animal disease in the US. So other countries are attempting something similar with the mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya, and now zika viruses, along with yellow fever. Yay!
