Washington Times : declared in Zika virus fears may have been overblown, says Government Accountability Office

"I'm not gong to give you a figure for a time for when we're going to have a Zika vaccine," Dr. Fauci said. Democrats on the committee Tuesday warned that President Trump's new budget could cut money from public health funds, potentially spreading Zika further. That's far more localized than some public health warned last year, when the Obama administration demanded more than $2 billion in emergency funding. Without a vaccine, public health professionals say they have to rely on alerting travelers about highly infected areas, stressing safe sex practices to stop spread of the disease and trying to control mosquito populations. Thus far, 15 diagnostic tests have been authorized; however, some of them were detecting the presence of a virus that may not have been Zika.

Mosquito that carries Zika virus more prevalent in state

The mosquito that carries the Zika virus has expanded its range and prevalence in the state, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station said Tuesday. In the southern United States, the Caribbean and Central and South America, the species carries Zika virus, which can cause birth defects. The research finding is significant in tracking the threat posed by the mosquito, Aedes albopictus, the experiment station said in a news release. The Asian tiger mosquito is an invasive species from East Asia and appears to be expanding its range northward in the Unites States, the experiment station said. They are "aggressive human biters" that can spread several viruses, including chikungunya, dengue, along with Zika and West Nile.


Researchers will focus on glioblastoma, which is the most common form of brain cancer and has a five-year survival rate of 5 percent, Reuters reported. Researchers in the U.K. are set to test whether the Zika virus can fight difficult-to-treat brain cancer by attacking its cells, potentially opening up new pathways to treat the aggressive disease. QUINOA 'MILK' DIET KILLED BABY, AUTHORITIES SAYThe Zika virus causes severe birth defects in an unborn fetus when contracted during pregnancy by attacking developing stem cells in the brain. "If we can learn lessons from Zika's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and target brain stem cells selectively, we could be holding the key to future treatments," Bulstrode told Reuters. ITALY VOTES TO MAKE VACCINES MANDATORYResearchers will use tumor cells in mice to test the virus, and hope that it will slow tumor growth.


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