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Zika

July 20th, 2016

The Zika virus gets it’s name from the Zika forest of Uganda where the virus was first isolated in 1947. In 1950 it was known to occur in a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia and has reached pandemic (world wide in this case) levels in 2015 – 2016. While there is no vaccine for the illness the symptoms, which can be very mild, may be treated with acetaminophen. The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) issued a travel alert for the following countries which I’ve taken from Wikipedia – Zika fever.

• Cape Verde
• Many parts of the Caribbean: Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
• Most of Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama
• Mexico
• Several Pacific Islands: American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Marshall Islands, New Caldonia, Samoa, and Tonga
• Most of South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela

Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Jamaica officially advised women not to get pregnant at this time.

Zika originated in a monkey, mosquito, monkey cycle. I do not know how it became a human, mosquito, human cycle; possibly mutation. The CDC states that it’s not in the later of the cycles in the continental United States. Our 1,306 cases are sexually transmitted cases. We have the Zika virus and  we have the types of mosquitoes that carry and spread the virus but in order for the Zika virus to become mosquito borne it must accomplish a time sensitive task. The mosquito must bite an infected person within the first week of the infection. Then it must live long enough to bite an uninfected person. This must happen several times. The fact that so many other countries and territories are mosquito borne it appears that it may be the writing on the wall. The U.S. and it’s territories have 4,211 cases. The Aedes agypti spreads the virus and the Ades albopictus carries it (the locations of each are in the maps above).

It’s well known that males can infect their partners. It’s not known that females can infect males. This report shows that a man can get Zika from a woman. But what if he was bitten by a mosquito in the week preceding his illness and just forgot or maybe didn’t even feel it. This report stands on nothing but his and her personal testimony. I don’t know what the findings will eventually be but I hope that men can not catch it from women because it would decrease the spread. Casual sex between a couple is no big deal because there is a window, only during pregnancy, that the child can be effected, noticeably. The couple may be sick a few days and in 2 weeks almost no-one will be able to observe that the virus was ever there. In that window, however, when the fetus can be effected, the initial affect, can be a living hell for the parents. I pray for them all the tolerance, endurance, accomplishment and happiness that they may attain.

Some infants and their parents have to be going through the most disheartening experience that they’ll ever have when finding out their baby has microcephaly. Microcephaly is when the infant undergoes abnormal head and brain development. The mom and dad will need lots of extra help and lots of extra strength. With Zika the child could have mental and motor function disabilities. They could suffer seizures or dwarfism but most notable defect is mircocephaly. It’s up to everyone to do whatever they can to reduce the incidents of Zika whether they’re expecting or not. I’m going to start taking more precautionary measures than I normally would. My State, is fairly high among reported cases of Zika. We own 2% of the continental United State’s cases. That’s 30 people. You can check your State’s numbers here. With Brazil as an example, I can tell you there were 2,782 suspected cases of microcephaly in 2015 compared to 2014 – 147 and 2013 – 167 cases.

GBS (Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome has also increased which can lead to death. During the 2013 – 2014 outbreak in French Polynesia there were 42 cases reported in 3 months as compared to 3-10 cases annually before the outbreak. GBS causes the immune system to damage the peripheral nervous system.

If you think you may have Zika, the symptoms are similar to dengue fever, you should see your doctor about further reaching implications. There is no vaccine so some would say that’s useless advice but I think others would like to monitor it. Fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, and headache are all symptoms. There’s also things you my want to do to prevent Zika. This is also from Wikipedia – Zika fever.

• Cover exposed skin by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants
• Use an insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), or IR3535
• Always follow product directions and reapply as directed
• If you are also using sunscreen, apply sunscreen first, let it dry, then apply insect repellent
• Follow package directions when applying repellent on children. Avoid applying repellent to their hands, eyes, or mouth
• Stay and sleep in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms
• Use a bed net if the area where you are sleeping is exposed to the outdoors
• Cover cribs, strollers and carriers with mosquito netting for babies under 2 months old.

18 international companies are in the race for a vaccine. One company, Inovio Pharmaceuticals got the go ahead to start human trails in June of 2016. An FDA approved vaccine may be a decade or more away. Other experimental methods are being applied to the scenario. Genetic modification to the mosquito so that they can’t transmit pathogens is one method. Another is infecting the mosquito with Wolbachia bacterium to reduce vector (spreader) compliance. Finally a Gene Drive which aims to sterilize the male mosquito, reducing the population.

Occupational Parenting would surely have it’s workers out with strategies in every home for the alert level they want to follow. They’d be answering questions like “Do we really have to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants in the heat of the day.” The WHO (World Health Organization) would probably set minimal guidance requisite which is international law when there is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. How would they enforce such laws? This is where we as Americans have to keep our eyes wide open. Laws based on everyone’s collective well being should be carried out but if a little old lady in Florida says “I don’t want to where a long sleeve shirt. It’s 90 degrees”. Is someone now or ever going to force her to put on a long sleeve shirt at gunpoint. Maybe it would be the United Nations or even the American police. We’re not at that extreme but it’s good to think of it so that we may steer away from it long before it gets here. Obviously the woman would offered every other option to include air conditioned clothing (I think it’s in our future) or mosquito repellent. If she still didn’t comply shed have to go under house arrest. Her choice of her house or a government owned house where she will stay until the mosquito population is no longer a danger or she’s willing to put on repellent or a long sleeved garment. If the garment posed risks to her such as heat stroke it will be waived but weighed against even one infected mosquito bite, against even one baby born with born with microcephaly or other abnormality, and the number of people who want it waived. Occupational Parenting  is an economic system that seeks the well-being of the children first and never seeks to infringe upon individual’s rights or the Constitution. The person who says “I don’t want to protect myself against mosquito bites. Ain’t my kid,” would definitely no longer be acceptable and still that dickhead would have the same options as the sweet little old lady. Governing should be all for one and one for all. Until next time, keep your homes well.

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