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(UNITED NATIONS) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today started a programme to train European laboratory staff on how to use nuclear-derived techniques to detect lumpy skin disease – a highly infectious cowpox virus spreading across the continent. “Lumpy skin disease has always been considered exotic in Europe, therefore many laboratories in the region are not prepared to detect it, or to differentiate between its various strains,” said Giovanni Cattoli, head of the UN […]
(REUTERS HEALTH) 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 […]
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services on Friday declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico because of the widespread transmission of the Zika virus, which poses a “significant threat” to public health. The statement came at the request of Alejandro García Padilla, governor of the U.S. commonwealth, where the Zika virus is spreading rapidly, threatening hundreds of pregnant women and their unborn babies and women of childbearing age. […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) – A type of genetically modified mosquito made by the British company Oxitec should pose no danger to the environment, US regulators said on Friday after considering thousands of public comments. The US Food and Drug Administration’s environmental review for the release of Oxitec’s genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes, known as OX513A, found “the proposed field trial will not have significant impacts on the environment.” The male mosquitoes are engineered so that their […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Money to fight the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the United States is running out, US President Barack Obama said Thursday, calling the situation “critical” and urging lawmakers to act. Obama spoke to reporters at the Pentagon, where he said the US government is taking the news of 15 cases of Zika being locally transmitted in Florida “extremely seriously.” “As our public health experts have been warning for […]
GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – Every week, scientists in southern China release 3 million bacteria-infected mosquitoes on a 3 km (two-mile) long island in a bid to wipe out diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and Zika. The scientists inject mosquito eggs with wolbachia bacteria in a laboratory, then release infected male mosquitoes on the island on the outskirts of the city of Guangzhou. The bacteria, which occurs naturally in about 28 percent of […]
by Leila Macor Kerry Sheridan MIAMI, United States (AFP) Zika fears prompted US health authorities on Monday to issue a travel warning for a small section of Miami where local mosquitoes have spread the virus to 14 people, officials said. “We advise pregnant women to avoid travel to this area,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Tom Frieden, noting that the virus can cause the birth defect, microcephaly. The area to avoid […]
Florida authorities on Friday (July 29) reported what is believed to be the first evidence of local Zika transmission in the continental United States, concluding that mosquitoes likely infected four people with the virus that can cause rare but serious birth defects. Governor Rick Scott said the state believed active transmission of the virus was occurring within an area of the city about the size of a square mile (2.6 square kms). Testing showed that […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) – by Kerry SHERIDAN Four cases of Zika virus in Florida are likely the first to be transmitted locally by mosquitoes in the United States, officials said Friday, marking a new phase in the fast-growing pandemic. Until now, more than 1,600 cases of Zika — which can cause birth defects — have been recorded in the mainland United States but most were brought in by people who had become infected […]
BEIJING (Reuters) – The risk of Zika virus infections at the Olympic Games is both low and manageable, the chief of the World Health Organization said on Friday, a week before the event kicks off in Rio de Janeiro. Nearly half a million people are expected to visit for the Games, many from the United States. Worries about security, the Zika virus and an economic crisis could deter travelers, with just under a third […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) – US regulators Thursday called for a halt to blood donations in the Miami area as investigators probe four potential non-travel associated cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which can cause birth defects. If confirmed, the cases would mark the first time that mosquitoes carrying the virus are known to be present in the mainland United States. The US territory of Puerto has already seen a surge in local transmission of Zika, […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) — The Brazilian healthy minister said on Tuesday (July 12) that the chance of being infected by the Zika virus during the August Olympic Games in Rio is less than one in 500,000, ensuring that all guarantees are in place for visitors’ safety. “Rio de Janeiro is not the centre for Zika proliferation. People have been orientated by the World Health Organisation which has supported us in the measures […]
