Zika virus: WHO declares global emergency

[drunkenshoe]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35459797

Zika virus: WHO declares global emergency

Zika poses a global public health emergency requiring an urgent, united response, says the World Health Organization.
Experts are worried that the virus is spreading far and fast, with devastating consequences. The infection has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. The WHO alert puts Zika in the same category of international concern as Ebola. It means research and aid will be fast-tracked to tackle the infection. WHO director general, Margaret Chan called Zika an "extraordinary event" that needed a coordinated response.

"I am now declaring that the recent cluster of microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities reported in Latin America following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014 constitutes a public health emergency of international concern." She said the priorities were to protect pregnant women and their babies from harm and to control the mosquitoes that are spreading the virus.
She advised pregnant women: to consider delaying travel to areas affected by Zika seek advice from their physician if they are living in areas affected by Zika, as well as protect themselves against mosquito bites by wearing repellent Dr Chan justified declaring an emergency even amid uncertainties about the disease, saying now was not the time to wait. The WHO faced heavy criticism for waiting too long to declare the Ebola outbreak a public emergency.



Currently, there is no vaccine or medication to stop Zika. The only way to avoid catching it is to avoid getting bitten by the Aedes mosquitoes that transmit the infection.The WHO has already warned that Zika is likely to "spread explosively" across nearly all of the Americas. More than 20 countries, including Brazil, are reporting cases. Most infections are mild and cause few or no symptoms, although there have been some reported cases of a rare paralysis disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome. The bigger health threat though is believed to be in pregnancy, to the unborn child. There have been around 4,000 reported cases of microcephaly - babies born with small brains - in Brazil alone since October. Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "There is a long road ahead. As with Ebola, Zika has once again exposed the world's vulnerability to emerging infectious diseases and the devastation they can unleash. Alongside the emergency response that Zika necessitates, we must put in place the permanent reforms, health systems strengthening and proactive research agenda that are needed to make the global health system more resilient to the threat of future pandemics."
Stopping Zika

[aitm]

 I know this is horribly cruel and shallow but......them earrings ain't gonna do that lil thing a damn bit a good.

[aitm]

We may have to nuke everything below the equator....

[Munch]

it might sound horrible to say, but whenever I see reports like this, about these deadly killer world ending viruses, I can't help but think how Ra's al Ghul would put it, that the world is so overpopulated by human beings now, its bound to happen, and maybe nature can do some good in thinning the herd a bit.

[stromboli]

Further proof that god loves us.

@munch: Love your sig. I've incorporated those move into my exercise routine.

[kilodelta]

I give up. Who declares global emergency?
<endscript.troll>

Time to bring back DDT or DDT the Next Generation.

[Nonsensei]

I gotta be honest here, this doesn't seem like as big a deal to me as Ebola was. Its bad, but not Ebola bad.

[TomFoolery]

it might sound horrible to say, but whenever I see reports like this, about these deadly killer world ending viruses

Zika isn't a deadly world-ending virus: it's main two observed effects as of yet are inducing microcephaly in unborn children and in extremely rare cases, Guillainâ€"Barré Syndrome. Guillainâ€"Barré Syndrome is a rare side effect of many infections. That being said, many women have tested positive for it and gone on to birth normal babies. We've known about Zika since the 1960s and know that a lot of people have asymptomatic infections. In symptomatic infections in healthy, non-pregant individuals, at most you're at risk of a low-grade fever, rash, and joint pain. There's just a lot we don't know, and what we don't know is being replaced with hysteria and conspiracy theories.

[Youssuf Ramadan]

It's horrible for the parents of children affected by this virus. However, a virus which might make people think twice about procreating in an overpopulated world might not be a bad thing in some respects, like Munch said.

Now, if someone could engineer a virus which makes religious fundamentalists and other dumbasses sterile, then I think we could be onto a winner.  :97:

[TomFoolery]

It's horrible for the parents of children affected by this virus. However, a virus which might make people think twice about procreating in an overpopulated world might not be a bad thing in some respects, like Munch said.

No, it just makes a complicated and poorly understood problem worse. The government's temporary solution is to tell women to postpone pregnancy... sorry, but hahahahahahahahaha.

We're talking about countries where it's a crime to get an abortion but it's not a crime for a man to force his wife to have sex. Countries where birth control access and education are extremely low, and rates of poverty and malnutrition are extremely high. If people don't stop having babies even when they can't afford to feed or clothe them, they aren't going to stop having them because of a mosquito-borne virus either.

There have been increases in reports of maternal deaths from women trying to induce abortions because of this. It doesn't solve anything, because the solution in these primarily Catholic countries is just "pray harder."

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/experts-christian-doctrine-is-causing-the-zika-virus-outbreak-to-explode/

[Youssuf Ramadan]

No, it just makes a complicated and poorly understood problem worse. The government's temporary solution is to tell women to postpone pregnancy... sorry, but hahahahahahahahaha.

We're talking about countries where it's a crime to get an abortion but it's not a crime for a man to force his wife to have sex. Countries where birth control access and education are extremely low, and rates of poverty and malnutrition are extremely high. If people don't stop having babies even when they can't afford to feed or clothe them, they aren't going to stop having them because of a mosquito-borne virus either.

There have been increases in reports of maternal deaths from women trying to induce abortions because of this. It doesn't solve anything, because the solution in these primarily Catholic countries is just "pray harder."

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/experts-christian-doctrine-is-causing-the-zika-virus-outbreak-to-explode/

Sadly, you're probably right..... 

[Youssuf Ramadan]

Alternatively.....



:97:

[Mermaid]

I give up. Who declares global emergency?
<endscript.troll>

Time to bring back DDT or DDT the Next Generation.

DDT has widespread resistance. We have permethrin which is very effective for mosquito control and repellency. The problem is not chemistry, it's consistent delivery.

[stromboli]

Alternatively.....



:97:

If that is you and your woman I would say you are one lucky guy.

[Baruch]

We may have to nuke everything below the equator....

But I like my feet and legs ;-)