Pest & Termite Control Blog

Malaria Treatments Could Successfully Treat Zika Victims As Well

Zika virus may not cause many complications or intolerable symptoms for the majority of sufferers, but for pregnant women infected with the virus, Zika could cause severe birth defects to unborn fetuses. The Zika virus penetrates the body’s protective barriers, leading to damage to a pregnant woman’s fetus. Sadly, the past two years of Zika research has not produced many results that could save unborn babies from Zika-induced birth defects. Billions of dollars have been spent studying the virus, yet medical professionals are still not even close to a vaccine. However, there is some good news, as one researcher and her team have discovered that a drug, which is already in existence, could help to prevent birth defects to babies that have acquired the Zika virus from their mothers.

According to Indira Mysorekar, an associate professor at Washington University, an antimalarial drug has been shown to prevent the transmission of the Zika virus from mother to fetus in mice. This drug is known as hydroxychloroquine and it reduces the viral load of Zika in the placenta of impregnated mice, as well as in the brains of baby mice. The drug did not reduce the viral load outside of the placenta, which indicates that this antimalarial drug helps the placenta to do its job by protecting the fetus from outside contaminants. Of course, this treatment will have to be repeated in humans, but hopefully similar, or even more promising, results will be demonstrated.

This particular antimalarial drug is very common, inexpensive, and safe, which makes it an ideal treatment option for Zika sufferers that are expecting to give birth. Also, this drug has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, so years of testing will not be necessary, and this will lead to countless babies being given a shot at living a life free from the physical defects caused by the Zika virus.

Why do you think that this drug has not already been recognized as an effective Zika treatment?

Read More

When Are Pregnant Women The Most Vulnerable To The Zika Virus?

It has been over two years now since Zika first ravaged Brazil and then made its way up into the southern United States. After two years, and billions of dollars in funding, you would think that the world’s top scientists would know more about how the world will be impacted by the Zika virus in the future. Since the beginning, pregnant women have been of primary concern to researchers since the Zika virus results in severe birth defects. There is no doubt that pregnant women and their offspring suffer the most from the Zika virus. In non-pregnant people, Zika can come and go, sometimes without being noticed by the victim, but Zika will leave a permanent mark on the children of mothers who have contracted the virus. But despite the research already conducted, scientists have only recently gained insights into when pregnant mothers are at the greatest risk for permanently damaging the health of their unborn children.

New research released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shed some light on the dangers that Zika poses to pregnant women. According to the report, five percent of pregnant women living with the Zika virus ended up giving birth to children that had Zika related birth defects. The collection of pregnant women that were taken into account for this study only included women from the United States and its territories.

The report confirmed results from an earlier study that showed that pregnant women are most at risk for fetal damage from Zika during their first trimester. In fact, one in twelve women who birthed children with physical defects ended up falling ill with Zika during their first trimester. However, the researchers were sure to point out that birth defects could occur at any point during a pregnancy. Researchers need to collect more daa from recent cases in order to better understand how to prevent birth defects in mothers infected with Zika.

Do you think that the Zika virus will be around for several more years to come? Why or why not?

Read More

The warmer weather this year is already bringing more mosquitoes, but this year many states are going to be prepared for Zika. State health officials are adamant about stepping up their efforts to stamp out Zika despite a lack of certainty regarding federal funding for Zika research. During the year of 2016 federal health officials reported finding forty four cases of Zika in pregnant women throughout the country. There were also major outbreaks in South America, The Caribbean, Florida and Texas. A CDC report released earlier last month claimed that one out of every ten pregnant women with Zika gave birth to children with birth defects. Last year in the United States seventy seven babies died in the womb as a result of pregnant mothers contracting the virus.

Last month federal health officials working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta claimed that six states that were heavily affected with Zika will probably lose all of their Zika funding by the end of the summer. This is a big problem for many states because the millions of dollars that was allocated to these states for the purposes of Zika control were meant to be used over a period of five years. Now many state government leaders are wondering what can be done once funding runs out.

The United States Senate has introduced a bill that allows for another one hundred million dollars in funds to go to states fighting the spread of the Zika virus, but the bill has yet to be approved by both houses. Both Florida and Texas have been hit hard by the Zika virus. However, New York is actually the state that was hit second hardest by Zika when considering the over eleven hundred cases of the virus reported within the state.

How hard was your state hit by Zika last year? Do you expect the negative impact of the virus to be worse this year?

Read More

As of March in United States alone there have been over 5 thousand registered Zika cases. The good news is that over 90 percent of these cases are travel-associated, meaning that these people have been infected during their time abroad and have gotten sick upon their return to the United States. But this also shows that people are not as careful as they should be in avoiding Zika while traveling. So here are some travel tips that will help you avoid getting Zika virus if you are traveling to one of the Zika virus affected areas.

Since there still isn’t a vaccine to prevent or to treat Zika virus, travelers need to be extra careful about their mosquito control, because it essentially is the only way to ensure that you don’t get Zika virus. When traveling to any of the Zika affected areas the first line of defense will be your clothing. One of the ways how mosquitoes are able to detect their targets is heat, which is why light colored clothing will be your best friend. Dark clothes absorb more heat than light clothing making it much more appealing to mosquitoes, which is why light-colored duds can make you less of a lure to mosquitoes. On top of that if you are wearing light colored long sleeve shirt and long pants, the clothing will also create a barrier between your skin and the mosquito, further ensuring that it cannot bite you and you are safe.

The second thing that you can do to avoid Zika virus is to know the habits of mosquitoes that carry this virus. As you might already know, insects responsible for Zika virus are the Aedes genus mosquitoes, like for example the Yellow fever mosquito. Most genus mosquitoes are the most active during dusk and dawn, spending their days hiding in dark places, but not Aedes mosquitoes. They prefer doing their hunting in daytime, which means that people naturally have a higher chance to get bitten by this mosquito during the day. Fortunately, Aedes genus mosquitoes are quite distinguishable in their looks, so you will be able to differ them from other insects. All Aedes genus mosquitoes gave dark bodies and legs with white striped markings on them, similar to tiger markings, making them look more intimidating but also better recognizable, so you can avoid them more easily.

And lastly don’t forget to use mosquito repellent. Even though most governments of affected areas do frequent mosquito fogger sprayings to eradicate the Zika carrying mosquitoes, these treatments are not enough to keep you 100% safe. Mosquito experts all over the world agree that the most efficient mosquito repellent is DEET, and none of the natural repellents can replace it. However, if you are against DEET then choose a repellent with oil of lemon eucalyptus in it, which is the closest you will get to natural DEET replacement. And remember to reapply your mosquito repellent frequently, too, because one of the most common mistakes that people make in regards to bug spray is that they apply the repellent once and hope that it will last for the whole day. But the truth is that most repellents are efficient for only a couple of hours, after which the repellent needs to be reapplied to maintain its mosquito repelling abilities.

So if you are traveling to any of the Zika virus affected areas make sure you wear long and light colored clothing to make yourself less attractive and your skin less accessible to mosquitoes, know the mosquito habits so you know when to use your insect repellent and reapply the repellent often to ensure the best possible protection against Zika virus.

Read More

Health Officials In Washington DC Mishandle Zika Specimens

The public was recently made aware that health officials in Washington DC messed made a huge mistake by mishandling Zika specimens collected from over four hundred people. The botched study has resulted in two women being told that they did not have the Zika virus when they, in fact, did have the virus.

Of the four hundred specimens collected from test subjects, three hundred of the subjects were pregnant women. Health officials are worried that more than just two women may be under the impression that they have not contracted the virus when they actually have. So health officials are currently trying to determine the final number of women who have been incorrectly told that they do not have the Zika virus.

The botched study has been blamed on a mathematical error on the part of lab workers. The mishandled specimens are being sent to the CDC for proper testing.

Have you ever been worried that you had contracted an insect-borne illness despite doctors insisting that you had not?

Read More