Texas Expands Zika Recommendations Ahead Of 2017 Mosquito Season quoting : The Huffington Post

Texas had six cases of local mosquito transmission of Zika virus disease in Brownsville in November and December. With its outbreak last year, Texas became the second state within the continental United States to report local Zika transmission, following Florida, which reported its first locally transmitted cases in July. Texas health officials are expanding testing recommendations for pregnant women in South Texas as the advent of warm weather increases the risk for local transmission of the mosquito-borne virus that has been shown to cause severe birth defects. The region is considered a likely place for Zika to spread because of its history of local transmission of dengue, a closely related virus, and its proximity to Mexico, where there continues to be local Zika transmission, including in communities just across the border. For the rest of the state, Texas is recommending testing for anyone with at least three of those four Zika symptoms and all pregnant women who have traveled to areas with ongoing Zika transmission, including travel to any part of Mexico.




Thihalolipavan said that about 80 percent of people who become infected with West Nile virus never know it. "Because we're not just fighting West Nile virus anymore," Cox said. Thihalolipavan said that West Nile virus was still a threat. It treats another 1,400 potential breeding areas by hand, gives out free mosquito-eating fish, collects and tests dead birds for West Nile virus and tracks Zika cases. In 2016, 22 county residents tested positive for West Nile virus and two people died.

As Mosquito Season Ramps Up, So Does Progress on Zika Vaccine

The only difference between the vaccine strain of Zika virus and an actual infection by Zika virus is the 'attenuation' of the vaccine strain - meaning that it will not cause illness. A live-attenuated Zika virus vaccine candidate induces sterilizing immunity in mouse models. A new Zika vaccine may be just around the corner, with incredibly promising results recently published in Nature Medicine. This Zika vaccine strain seems to be even better than most. Not only that, but, the vaccine strain did not infect mosquitoes after they fed on it in spiked-blood meals.


collected by :Lucy William
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