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Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

newswire.rockefeller.edu

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Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#51

Post by advertising »

kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

They did this in Brasil decades back. Mandatory home inspections where they had patrols go through every single house and eliminate water pools where mosquitos could breed, mostly all made by humans.

I believe the eliminated mosquitos for a certain period of time but this technique didn't work in the states because Americans were adverse to government agencies coming into their homes and telling them what do to.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#52

Post by advertising »

advertising wrote: post #50
kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

They did this in Brasil decades back. Mandatory home inspections where they had patrols go through every single house and eliminate water pools where mosquitos could breed, mostly all made by humans. I believe the eliminated mosquitos for a certain period of time but this technique didn't work in the states because Americans were adverse to government agencies coming into their homes and telling them what do to.

Here - http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/while-brazil-was-eradic...

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#53

Post by dmreedy »

seanwilson wrote: post #39
enraged_camel wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood this argument. We have been "playing god" since we settled down 10,000 years ago and started practicing agriculture. The ways in which we selectively cultivate/breed plants/animals have do doubt caused major changes in ecosystems. Yet, if we had not done those things, we probably would not be here today. Furthermore, where do you draw the line? We are very close to eradicating the polio virus. D…

> Furthermore, where do you draw the line? We are very close to eradicating the polio virus. Do we know ALL the consequences of doing so? No. Does that mean we should stop? No. We have, at some point, decided that it causes an immense amount of human suffering and decided to eradicate it. Same with certain species of mosquitoes. It reminds me of the Trolley Problem with the exception that you can't be completely sure…

or, more colloquially, "the devil you know"

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#54

Post by maxerickson »

advertising wrote: post #50
kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

They did this in Brasil decades back. Mandatory home inspections where they had patrols go through every single house and eliminate water pools where mosquitos could breed, mostly all made by humans. I believe the eliminated mosquitos for a certain period of time but this technique didn't work in the states because Americans were adverse to government agencies coming into their homes and telling them what do to.

Lots of places in the US have mosquito control boards that go around inspecting properties. For example, this page lists residential site inspections as one of the methods being used to combat Zika virus in Florida:

http://www.miamidade.gov/solidwaste/mosquito-control.asp

Searching on "mosquito control board inspections" returns lots of similar results. I suppose people might not always follow recommendations.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#55

Post by nkozyra »

micah_chatt wrote: post #11

Guillain-Barré (normally 1 in 100,000, it's 1 out of 5k-10k with Zika ) is quite scary as well, basically you get locked inside your own body and either die or have a multi-year recovery if they identify it within the first day or two. I know two people who have gotten it in the last year: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2016/apr/04/n...

There's a wider spectrum on the severity scale with G-B. My experience was ~ 3 months wherein I lost sensation from my legs up to my waist when I was 17 or 18 years old. I had to walk with crutches for a few weeks. I then quickly recovered and have no lingering ill effect.

It is still among the swath of horrifying things for which we have little-to-no preventative or responsive care.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#56

Post by JosephHatfield »

will_brown wrote: post #28
kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

Beyond your question of ecological impact of killing all mosquitoes, as others mentioned they don't all need to be killed. Historically, South Florida engaged in annual mosquitoe controlling campaigns. Essentially aerial spraying during the Summer. These were stopped because of the budget cuts related to the collapse of the Florida housing market. Not only did the mosquitoes become intolerable, but before Zika we had…

When I was growing up along the Indian River in Florida, they used to send trucks through the neighborhood on summer nights that sent out huge clouds of mosquito killing fog. I'm sure that was perfectly safe.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#57

Post by ionlysaididid »

nickysielicki wrote: post #3

Even without seeing headlines like this, I have felt for a while that Zika is being downplayed in the media. I remember mass hysteria over mad cow disease, bird flu, and ebola. Zika seems at least on par with these to me. This disease is so new that we really don't know how long women have to wait before they can get pregnant safely-- if ever. We know that it stays latent in semen for a long time after being infected…

It's probably a mix of a) society becoming more stupid b) the media not being able to hype something that doesn't kill at rates similar to bird flu or ebola c) the media not having as close a connection with the victims as media darling diseases like HIV.

This is something that can cause severe retardation in children at somewhere on the order of 5-10x more than Downs Syndrome where mothers are infected- and that's comparing to rates for Western countries with women having children at the extreme outer edge of the healthy childbearing age.

Bird flu is bad, but when it kills, it's a rapid death, and the places where it has occurred don't have particular problems with population replcement. Zika, on the other hand, can mean that the mother's life and a fair amount of government and NGO money is going to be tied up caring for the affected baby. Not as bad an impact as HIV has had in the third world (outside of Cuba), but it still needs stopping before the problem grows.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#58

Post by DelaneyM »

kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

> What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences?

This is actually a pretty well-researched question! (Wish fulfillment I assume.)

A good summary of research is here: http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/what-if/wha... (includes links to studies)

TL;DR: probably worth it for humanity

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#59

Post by nerdponx »

micah_chatt wrote: post #11

Guillain-Barré (normally 1 in 100,000, it's 1 out of 5k-10k with Zika ) is quite scary as well, basically you get locked inside your own body and either die or have a multi-year recovery if they identify it within the first day or two. I know two people who have gotten it in the last year: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2016/apr/04/n...

A coworker got this a couple months ago. He was out for a month, very scary

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#60

Post by chiph »

will_brown wrote: post #28
kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

Beyond your question of ecological impact of killing all mosquitoes, as others mentioned they don't all need to be killed. Historically, South Florida engaged in annual mosquitoe controlling campaigns. Essentially aerial spraying during the Summer. These were stopped because of the budget cuts related to the collapse of the Florida housing market. Not only did the mosquitoes become intolerable, but before Zika we had…

I doubt they'll bring back DDT spraying programs. But there's no question it was effective.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT

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