I’m glad the editors of the New York Times stepped up to the plate and wrote about the Zika virus:
Regrettably, despite these actions, the World Health Organization seems, once again, to be dozing and has yet to generate a broad and coordinated international response. By coincidence, the W.H.O. executive board is currently meeting in Geneva, so this is the perfect time for the agency to show leadership by convening an emergency committee of experts to take stock of the Zika pandemic and advise the W.H.O. director general, Dr. Margaret Chan, on how best to combat it.
I want to contribute one tiny fact I haven’t seen mentioned in the reports: Brazil is seeing one case of microcephaly for every 850 or so live births. That’s huge. 4,000 cases in a year is about 6,000 instances per year if it were translated to the United States. Do I need to say that the cost of coping with that will be enormous?
From my point of view the highest priority should be given to confirming or refuting the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly in newborns as quickly as we can. There is a test for the Zika virus but it’s not widely distributed and I presume it’s expensive. We should dig into our pockets and pay up. At this point it’s at least 4,000 tests. Time’s a wastin’.
We might start with Koch’s Postulates. The medical community seems to have forgotten them. They’re not perfect but they’re a start.
Update
The JAMA Network has this to say about Zika:
The disease now has “explosive†pandemic potential, with outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas.
and this
Brazil has reported nearly 4000 cases of suspected microcephaly in 2015, representing a 20-fold increase from 2010 through 2014.1 Evidence of the virus has been found in the placenta and amniotic fluid of mothers and in the brains of fetuses or newborns. Yet causation between Zika virus and microcephaly is not yet established. On January 15, 2016, Hawaii reported the first domestic case of microcephaly in a newborn whose mother had lived in Brazil. Days later, Florida, Illinois, and Texas reported several infected individuals (some pregnant) after international travel.
As I said above, this should be a very high priority. Pull out the stops.
Agreed. Little expense should be spared in responding to this.
Hmm. Controlling the mosquito population would be a good idea. Perhaps if we had an effective insecticide we could deploy aerially?
It’s more important than Ebola. It’s more important than DAESH. Imagine the countries of Africa trying to cope with 1 in 850 live births being born microcephalic.
Mosquito control has benefits even if there’s no relation between Zika and microcephaly.
But that’s the reason to nail down the relationship as quickly as possible. Maybe the microcephaly is due to other environmental causes. We really need to know.
@Icepick
Don’t they spray for mosquitoes? During the breeding times, the parish (county) sends around a truck with a spray nozzle on the back that emits insecticide. (weekly /monthly?)
It is fogless now, but when I was growing up, it was a cloud behind the truck, and the kids would ride their bikes in it. I did it once, but when my mother found out, she was not happy. (My mother’s “not happy” was not like today’s “disappointed”. As we used to say, she went on the warpath.)
Yeah, but is it as effective as it could be? Maybe we need something better.
(Would it help if I added a sarcasm tag?)
“(Would it help if I added a sarcasm tag?)”
Heh. Over time I’ve come to realize people don’t know when I’m just kidding around. It makes it more fun to see some reactions, though…..
The issue, as usual, is who will pay for the work. It is affecting (mostly) poor foreigners. No private company will go after this. The GOP controls federal funding. No way they pay for it. Mostly leaves WHO. Doubt they have the funding to respond quickly. we have created vaccines of similar viruses, but again, who will pay?
“Imagine the countries of Africa trying to cope with 1 in 850 live births being born microcephalic.”
They will mostly just let them die. Not hard to imagine.
Steve
DDT. I believe those are the initials we’re avoiding. DDT.
Any time the choice is between microcephalic children and thinned bird’s eggs, call me crazy but I’m for saving the human children.
Well, someone finally got what I was after….
DDT is reported to cause its own birth defects, and a few other issues. Since the report incidence of microcephaly is actually within, or close to, the range normally cited in some studies (has a pretty wide range), I would certainly vote for nailing down cause and effect, then decide the relative risks. DDT is already being used in many places so I think it won’t be a big issue if they use it for this.
Steve