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Ridgewood Health Department : Be Aware of Standing Water and Mosquitoes that Carry Disease

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the Ridgewood Health Department

Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Health Department reminds you that warm weather with all this rain  you need to be aware of standing water and the mosquitoes that breed there. Reducing mosquito populations, and the diseases they sometimes carry can be as simple as dumping standing water on private property. However, not everyone is aware that standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes — and some residents are unmotivated to dump the water even if they are aware.

Continue reading Ridgewood Health Department : Be Aware of Standing Water and Mosquitoes that Carry Disease

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Zika linked to birth defects in six US cases

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AFP

June 17, 2016

Washington (AFP) – The Zika virus has been linked to birth defects in the foetuses and babies of six women in the United States who were infected while pregnant, US health officials said Thursday.

Three of the women gave birth to infants with congenital defects such as microcephaly — an abnormally small head — and brain damage that are linked to Zika, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, citing figures as of June 9.

Of the other three women, one had a miscarriage, one terminated her pregnancy, and the third gave birth to an infant that was stillborn. All three cases showed instances of Zika-related birth defects.

The six women mentioned Thursday were all infected while traveling in countries where the virus is circulating.

The CDC said it will publish weekly results of women who are pregnant and infected with Zika.

A total of 234 pregnant women in the United States had tested positive for Zika as of June 9, the CDC said.

US scientists believe that a woman infected with Zika during the first trimester of her pregnancy has a one to 13 percent chance that the fetus develops microcephaly.

The mosquito-borne Zika has spread rapidly across Latin America and the Caribbean in the past months, and experts warn that the continental United States will likely see an increase in cases as summer begins in the northern hemisphere.

There is also growing evidence that Zika can be transmitted sexually.

There is no vaccine for Zika.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/zika-linked-birth-defects-six-us-cases-104853040.html?ref=gs

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Military discloses at least 11 troops infected with Zika virus this year

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Gregg Zoroya and Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

At least 11 U.S. troops have been infected with the Zika virus since January, nearly all of whom traveled to countries where the mosquito-born illness is prevalent, a Pentagon health report published Friday disclosed.

In addition, four dependents of servicemembers — which can include spouses and children — and two military retirees contracted the illness, according to the report. It underscored the risks to military personnel of child-bearing age exposed to the virus during deployments.

A fetus infected with the Zika virus during the first three months of pregnancy has about a 1% to 13% chance of developing microcephaly, an abnormally small head usually caused by incomplete brain development, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/06/03/military-discloses-least-11-troops-infected-zika-virus-year/85343632/

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Christie: N.J. is prepared for Zika virus

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A day after the first baby delivered in a New Jersey hospital was diagnosed with birth defects caused by the Zika virus, Gov. Chris Christie assured the public on Wednesday the state is ready to respond when the mosquito-borne illness migrates to the state. Samantha Marcus and Susan K. Livio, NJ.com Read more

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Why the Zika virus is causing alarm

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Reuters
April 25, 2016

April 25 (Reuters) – – Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas.

The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbreak:

How do people become infected?

Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, and the virus will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found.

How do you treat Zika?

There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) had said it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of potential preventative shots.

How dangerous is it?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years.

According to the World Health Organization, there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. In addition, the agency said it could cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. Conclusive proof of the damage caused by Zika may take months or years.

Brazil has confirmed 1,113 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 3,836 suspected cases of microcephaly. Colombia has confirmed two cases of microcephaly linked to Zika.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/why-zika-virus-causing-alarm-214755334.html

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Zika Virus: What New Jersey Residents Should Know

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Randy Gaugler & Ary Faraji
Center for Vector Biology – Rutgers University / NJAES

Zika virus is not a new disease.  Zika virus has been largely confined to equatorial Africa in the tropics where it circulated predominately between forest dwelling mosquitoes and wild primates. The virus was actually discovered from a sentinel monkey that had been placed in a cage in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947. But the virus rarely spilled over into human populations even in highly endemic areas of Africa. The explosive reemergence we are current witnessing is truly extraordinary. Human activities are the greatest factor attributing to this spread because of rapid changes in land use and globalization leading to rapid increases in the movement of goods and people.

Zika is a pandemic because the virus is no longer confined to Africa but has spread to Asia, the Pacific Islands, and now the Americas where the World Health Organization is predicting several million infections and classifying Zika a ‘global health emergency’. The virus is not continent-hopping via the spread of mosquitoes, but because of the frequency and rapidity of air travel by humans. An individual can be bitten by an infected mosquito where the virus is circulating, and then fly long distances within a short span of time. Since the incubation period in humans usually lasts several days, if that infected individual is bitten by a local mosquito that can replicate and transmit the virus (i.e. vector competency in the host mosquito), then local infections in a new area may occur. However, only a handful of Aedes mosquitoes are vector competent for Zika virus. The primary vector is the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti; a highly invasive urban species. Their eggs may remain dormant for months in small containers, which contribute to a wide geographical distribution. Not coincidentally, these mosquitoes are abundant in the areas where Zika virus is currently circulating in the Americas. In short, humans are responsible for the transportation of Zika virus, whereas mosquitoes are responsible for transmission of the virus to humans.

 

https://vectorbio.rutgers.edu/Zika.htm

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Zika virus could become ‘explosive pandemic’

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28 January 2016

US scientists have urged the World Health Organisation to take urgent action over the Zika virus, which they say has “explosive pandemic potential”.

Writing in a US medical journal, they called on the WHO to heed lessons from the Ebola outbreak and convene an emergency committee of disease experts.

They said a vaccine might be ready for testing in two years but it could be a decade before it is publicly available.

Zika, linked to shrunken brains in children, has caused panic in Brazil.

Thousands of people have been infected there and it has spread to some 20 countries.

Would it be wrong to eradicate mosquitoes?

The Brazilian President, Dilma Roussef, has urged Latin America to unite in combating the virus.

She told a summit in Ecuador that sharing knowledge about the disease was the only way that it would be beaten. A meeting of regional health ministers has been called for next week.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Daniel R Lucey and Lawrence O Gostin say the WHO’s failure to act early in the recent Ebola crisis probably cost thousands of lives.

They warn that a similar catastrophe could unfold if swift action is not taken over the Zika virus.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35425731