Somewhere far outside of the primary battle bubble, a mosquito is busy reproducing, just to make your summer a little bit less enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. Only this year there is rising concern that some of them may carry the Zika virus, an infection related to dengue, yellow fever, and the West Nile virus.
The virus, which is known to be transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, can cause fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes) in about 20 percent of cases. The symptoms are usually mild and last for about a week to 10 days. Most people won’t even know that they have been infected. Once infected, the person generally develops an immunity to the virus.
But if a woman is pregnant, there is a chance that the virus will attack her fetus, causing damage to fetal nerve cells leading to microcephaly (unusually small heads with brain damage) or other birth defects. The latest data suggest that the risk may be as high as 13 percent. There is now a suspicion that it might be causing problems in the eyes of infected newborns. Infection has also been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults, which can cause paralysis and even death.
As of May 18, the 544 cases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported within the Continental United States are all travel-associated, involving people returning from affected areas, their sexual contacts, or infants infected in utero. The CDC has also reported 832 locally acquired cases in American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to ABC News, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director at the CDC ...
...said approximately 500 people in the U.S. were found to have likely been infected with Zika. However, since 80 percent of people with a Zika infection do not show symptoms, she estimated that thousands may have arrived in the U.S. unaware they were infected with the virus and were potentially able to start a local outbreak through the mosquito population.
The Zika virus is believed to have begun in Africa and spread to Asia in the middle of the last century. And while it is likely that it triggered cases of microcephaly, there are other conditions that can also cause the birth defect, and until recently there was no way to verify Zika as the cause. The virus made its way from Southeast Asia to French Polynesia in 2013 where the population was large enough that the increase in birth defects was notable, unlike the smaller islands that Zika hit earlier. By May of last year, it had reached Brazil.
Zika was first confirmed in Brazil – a country of 200 million – last May, and it spread rapidly. The first alarms about microcephaly were raised in October, when doctors in the northeastern state of Pernambuco reported a surge in babies born with it. Pernambuco has nine million people and 129,000 annual births. In a typical year, nine are microcephalic infants.
By November 2015, when Brazil declared a health emergency, Pernambuco had had 646 such births.
The Aedes mosquitos, aggressive daytime biters who can also bite at night, are carriers of the virus. The Aedes albopictus mosquito (Asian tiger mosquito) is not considered to be as effective at transmitting the virus as is the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Called the “cockroach of the mosquitoes” by Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the CDC, they have learned to reproduce in tiny amounts of water—their eggs have been found in bottle caps and Doritos wrappers. Because of that, and the fact that they can lay eggs on areas like the waterline of a flower vase inside of a house, they cannot be completely eradicated through external spraying. Vector control workers must engage in hand-to-hand, or backyard-to-backyard, combat against these pests. It is very labor intensive, and very expensive.
Before they can transmit the Zika virus, the mosquitoes must first bite someone who has the virus in their bloodstream. The two maps below show the best estimate of the range of the two Aedes mosquitoes, not the spread of any disease.
In February, the New York Times reported that:
According to the C.D.C., epidemiology and laboratory funding for so-called vector-borne diseases (those spread by mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and other creatures) dropped to just $9.5 million in 2015 from about $24 million in 2004.
The most recent Republican expression of “fuck you very much” to the American people has come as a response to President Obama’s request for $1.9 billion to fight this public health threat. Three months after his request and there is still no money appropriated for this battle. Look again at the map of the Aedes aegypti mosquito’s range (top map). Notice how many of the affected states are in Republican control. You would think that would prompt some of them to reconsider the contempt that their actions show for their own constituents.
There is much that is still unknown about this virus, but what the CDC does know is that:
Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (A. aegypti and A. albopictus). These are the same mosquitoes that spread dengue and chikungunya viruses.
It can also be transmitted from an infected woman to her fetus during pregnancy, but there is no evidence that it can be passed, after birth, via breastfeeding. The virus can be sexually transmitted by a man who has the virus—it survives in the semen longer than it does in the blood, in some cases more than 60 days. It is unknown if a woman can transmit the virus to a sexual partner. It appears that it can also be transmitted through blood transfusions.
There is no vaccine, although Dr Fauci of the National Institutes of Health has stated that “We’re right now very aggressively developing the vaccine.” He believes that a Phase 1 trial may begin as early as September with larger trial set for the beginning of 2017.
The CDC is recommending that pregnant women avoid travel to areas with Zika, such as Rio de Janeiro. If the travel must be done, take steps to avoid getting bitten.
- Stay in air-conditioned quarters, or rooms with window and door screens.
- Use a mosquito bed net if you are unable to stay in an air-conditioned or screened room.
- Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants treated with permethrin.
- Use EPA registered mosquito repellents according to directions. Apply after sunscreen.
It is also recommended that pregnant women with male partners who have traveled to an area where the virus is known to exist use condoms, or refrain from sex during the pregnancy.
Everyone should follow the steps to avoid being bitten by mosquitos this summer. Here is a list of EPA-registered repellents:
In addition, the EPA has developed a graphic to help consumers decide which repellent is best suited for their needs:
EPA is allowing companies to apply for permission to include the new repellency awareness graphic on product labels of skin-applied insect repellents. This graphic is intended to help consumers easily identify the repellency time for mosquitos and ticks. Use of the graphic by manufacturers will be voluntary and available for qualifying companies. EPA will review products that apply to use the graphic to ensure that their scientific data meet current testing protocols and standard evaluation practices.
In addition, you should check the screens on your doors and windows. Make sure that you do not have any standing water outside where mosquitoes can lay eggs. The CDC has a fact sheet that is well worth downloading: Help Control Mosquitoes that Spread Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika Viruses.
And finally, make your congressional representative aware of your concerns while he/she is on their paid vacation this week. A mosquito does not care if its victim is a member of the one percent or even if he is a member of Congress. If we don’t invest now in preventing the spread of this virus, it is going to cost us much more in the long run.
And also remind him/her that the EPA already allows for the lifting of certain regulations to combat Zika, so the Zika Vector Control Act is unnecessary and not a substitute for funding.
“The reality is that the majority has been pushing this legislation for years under whatever name is convenient at the time,” Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) said during the floor debate Tuesday. “This bill has nothing to do with combating Zika.”
Opponents of the bill noted that it would do nothing to help emergency responders have more flexibility with regard to pesticides and Zika, arguing that vector control agencies already have the authority to apply pesticides in emergency situations to prevent the spread of infectious diseases without the need to apply for a permit.
No matter how many re-tweets Speaker Ryan is able to drum up for this: