ZIKA virus

Thanks Jess and yes, it is a minefield. No vaccine is entirely safe even after extensive trials, and so many ones that show potential at sub-clinical level prove ineffective in trials.

In an ideal world there would be a team of scientists working collectively and proactively on those viruses with limited fatalities, usually in third world counties, such as Ebola when it was confined to a small area, so there would be an effective vaccine before they present a world threat, also limitingbthe potential for these viruses to mutate into something more deadly or easily transmitted.

Article on vaccine development - seems that IF an effective vaccine found it could be rolled out "in emergencies" in a year. But lots of tricky issues here.
www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/here-s-why-we-don-t-have-vaccine-zika-and-other-mosquito-borne-viruses

Yes TriciaF abstinence and coitus interruptus. Tell that to the men.

JessM - I thought it sounded too good to be true - thanks.
As for Catholics and birth control - does the Pope agree with abstention?
I don't mean this as the start of another argument about religion, I'm just interested to know.

TriciaF they say they might make it available in 4 months. This sounds wildly optimistic as it also sounds as if they have not even completed animal trials yet. Its a biotech company so, reading between the lines they have bio-engineered a potential vaccine in the lab which has yet to be animal testing to check it works and does not have any interesting side effects. Human safety trials would need to follow to likewise check that it works with the human immune system (in terms of producing antibodies) and that it does not have any ill effects. All of this is complicated and time consuming.
You might then progress to testing the efficacy of the antibodies by deliberately trying to infect vaccinated volunteers. The final stage would be a small scale trial in uninfected humans in an area where he virus was common and tracking them for some time, while comparing them with a similar group who have not been vaccinated. i.e. does the vaccine work in the real world. There is the additional issue of vaccine production - to produce a batch of flu vaccine for instance you have to set up a production facility using fertilised hen's eggs and then harvesting the vaccine after a certain number of days.
Only then would the medical world be convinced that they had a viable product, suitable for rolling out in the general population.
AlgeswifeVal most UK catholics ignore the Pope in this respect these days. Also presumably Italians who have the lowest birth rate in the world.
In third world countries they tend to follow him. As do their governments. There are no family planning facilities and having an abortion is a serious crime.

Well, I wouldn't let the Pope dictate to me about contraception. Absolutely not.

Evidently a vaccine has been developed in India, but needs clinical trials before it can be used widely.
www.rt.com/news/331303-zika-virus-vaccine-india/

All those northern climes, which is surprising really. You would think the cold winters would kill them off.
Canada, Scotland, Finland, presumably northern Russia although I have never been there.
When we left Finland I was tempted to buy a t-shirt in Departures; it had lots of mosquitoes pictured on the front and the slogan: 'Goodbye my little Finnish friends'.
I didn't buy one, although I was glad to leave them behind!

Canada swarms with mosquitoes, but not the zika kind, yet... Staying in the Yukon I wore the wrong kind of trousers and ended up with nearly 60 bites on my legs.

Phoebes I have tried that too, but they seem to think 'here she comes, she thinks she can fool us but she can't' [sigh]
Marmite is supposed to work as well, perhaps it does for some people

That sounds very interesting Jenro, I will take a look

There does seem to be another way to fight these mosquitoes. This is a very brief extract from the informative Guardian article on 4th Feb. which is well worth reading, especially as it counteracts the dangerous rumour which is circulating regarding the release of Oxitec's genetically modified male mosqitoes.

'A scientific paper about the trials, conducted in the Brazilian city of Juazeiro in late 2011, confirmed that the local population of disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes crashed by more than 90% during the trial, making Oxitec’s approach [releasing GM male mosquitoes] far more promising form of control than conventional insecticide spraying. Aedes mosquitoes carry both dengue and Zika, so the same strategy could help tackle both diseases.'

,

If you take brewers' yeast every day for a couple of weeks before you go anywhere where there are lots of mozzies, you shouldn't get bitten as they hate the smell.

This will explain things about this evil virus......

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWOIDZFVsBU

And it's always the poorest who suffer the most from these epidemics.

If anyone is interested in the article in french, and knows how to do a search, Dr. Musso also wrote a report in the Lancet, in 2015, which should be in english.

Article on the fact that women are being urged to avoid pregnancy - and no mention of men.

www.damemagazine.com/2016/02/03/three-letter-word-missing-zika-virus-warnings

And they don't seem to have found out at which stage of pregnancy the foetus could be affected, or if it is at any stage.

My French is a bit rusty TriciaF!!

We were in Micronesia last year and we didn't hear a mention of the virus - although it is there too - and I was warned to use insect repellent with deet by someone who had worked in the islands for a long time.

This article is about an interview with a Dr. Musso who identified the virus in French Polynesia 2 years ago:
www.lepoint.fr/sante/zika-la-propagation-de-l-epidemie-etait-previsible-depuis-2014-03-02-2016-2014974_40.php#xtor=RSS-221
The sidebar lists other articles on the subject.
I could give brief translations if someone needs.

Sounds like the virus might have mutated slightly. And unlike Ebola for those that contract it, its not a serious illness like Ebola.
The circumstantial evidence of the increase in microcephaly in Brazil has kicked it into prominence. It could have been happening for a long time in Africa and nobody would have noticed because health care less developed in those countries.
Things that effect foetuses can take a long time to get flagged up - remember thalidomide and how long that took before the medical profession realised what was happening.
The causal link has yet to be established.
WHO are meeting today to decide whether to declare a world-wide health emergency.

I think there would have been mosquitoes there even if they didn't carry the Zika virus and, as far as I can find out, the virus only affects pregnant women so, 5boysnan55555, unless either of you are pregnant you should be OK.

POGS I missed your other thread.

Not sure how long this virus has been known about but there have apparently been outbreaks in the South Pacific Islands before now (low population, remote so of no interest?) and the first outbreak in a human rather than a monkey was identified in 1954 in Nigeria. It has been confused with dengue fever which is carried by the same mosquito.
However, I had never heard of it until this outbreak although I was aware of dengue fever.

Thankyou for the information Tingly

I also mentioned a UK based company called. Intrexon/Cambridge who have teamed up with the Brazilian authorities to introduce ' genetically modified sterile mosquito's ' in the hope they will invade the mosquito population and assist in the spread to humans.

How long has this virus been known of I ask?

Nothing to add really other than I started a thread on GN 22nd January headed Zika Virus and only 4 posters responded .

It doesn't matter who,what, where the information comes from but the fact I posted after watching a report on Russia Today or Aljazeera days before I posted on the 22nd I remain amazed the World Health Organisation, our news / media took so long to bring it to the attention of the public here.

It is a terrible situation for pregnant women and dare I say it 'worldwide'.. This is going to be on the scale of the Ebola outbreak. Heartbreaking.

Jalima - you can get Cinq sur Cinq on Amazon. It's the green bottle and even smells quite pleasant. I bought the first one in France in the local pharmacy but ran out. It costs about £11. I have also tried Incognito from Holland & Barrett but it wasn't so effective.