Zika Virus 'Scarier than Initially Thought'

CNN

At first, the Zika Virus was thought to effect the unborn. Pregnant mothers were told to avoid travel to certain countries.

Now, the virus has travelled as far north as northern California and New York. It has been found it is sexually transmitted. It is stated that it hasn't been transmitted by a mosquito bite in the Continental US yet, but I am wondering how they know this? There are mosquitoes here with it and there are cases of Zika here.

In 2008, Professor Brian Foy contracted the Zika virus in Senegal and passed it to his wife. She was even more sick than he was. No one paid attention to his findings, but luckily, he took blood samples from himself and his wife and stored them.

There are 354 cases in Puerto Rico, the US virgin Islands and American Samoa. There are an additional 346 cases in the continental US.

As they've done before, they (the CDC) appealed to Congress for an emergency $1.9 billion to keep the virus at bay...Last week, the White House said it was redirecting $589 million to the cause. The White House made it clear the $1.9 billion was still needed

"While we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the continental U.S., we need the states to be ready for that," Schuchat said.

(Anne Schuchat, Principal deputy director of the CDC)

"The more and more we learn, the more you get concerned about the scope of what this virus is doing," he said. (Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease at the NIH.)

Hmm..I live in a so called hot zone...several of my students and co-workers have caught the Zika and Chikingunya virus over the past year or so. They describe flu like symptoms and sore joints over a couple of days...not so scary imo.

a reply to: reldra

My initial thought is the media focus on it and scare tactics like this can help certain pharm companies justify accepting huge donations and grant money to fund research..

BUT then again it could be a legitimate concern. The jury is out on this one for me

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: reldra

My initial thought is the media focus on it and scare tactics like this can help certain pharm companies justify accepting huge donations and grant money to fund research..

BUT then again it could be a legitimate concern. The jury is out on this one for me

I am more worried because the media was mainly ignoring it for a few months and then the CDC and NIH just gave a press briefing to point out new findings.

originally posted by: Tucket
Hmm..I live in a so called hot zone...several of my students and co-workers have caught the Zika and Chikingunya virus over the past year or so. They describe flu like symptoms and sore joints over a couple of days...not so scary imo.

True. the symptoms are mild for some. But for others, more severe and last months, even in healthy adults.

People aren't as scared of this as we want them to be. Panic MOAR!

The truth is that I've seen nothing to indicate that this is a serious issue for anyone who isn't pregnant or a few people who pick up the rare complications.

The rest of us get, are sick with a fairly mild illness for a day or three, and get better. Or even scarier, we never know we had it.

a reply to: reldra

Apart from the potential link to microcephaly what is so scary about this virus ?

The WHO states this for treatment

Treatment
Zika virus disease is usually relatively mild and requires no specific treatment. People sick with Zika virus should get plenty of rest, drink enough fluids, and treat pain and fever with common medicines. If symptoms worsen, they should seek medical care and advice. There is currently no vaccine available.

So what's scary about a virus which requires no treatment beyond the treatment somebody with a cold would expect ?

originally posted by: ketsuko

The truth is that I've seen nothing to indicate that this is a serious issue for anyone who isn't pregnant or a few people who pick up the rare complications.

I think that was the whole point of the press briefing. That medical experts have learned more about the virus and find it may be a serious issue.

Therefore...the title of the article.

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: reldra

Apart from the potential link to microcephaly what is so scary about this virus ?

The WHO states this for treatment

Treatment
Zika virus disease is usually relatively mild and requires no specific treatment. People sick with Zika virus should get plenty of rest, drink enough fluids, and treat pain and fever with common medicines. If symptoms worsen, they should seek medical care and advice. There is currently no vaccine available.

So what's scary about a virus which requires no treatment beyond the treatment somebody with a cold would expect ?

From the WHO page you presented:

During large outbreaks in French Polynesia and Brazil in 2013 and 2015 respectively, national health authorities reported potential neurological and auto-immune complications of Zika virus disease. Recently in Brazil, local health authorities have observed an increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome which coincided with Zika virus

a reply to: reldra

Yes but the problem is it only states "potential" it also doesn't state what percent of those infected suffered such complications, it could be 1% it could be 10% it could be 99% but it doesn't say. So when it's saying stuff like that and then admitting that it's "usually relatively mild and requires no specific treatment." it begs the question, what's so scary ?

The Flu has the potential to kill and cause complications for certain people, yet nobody finds the Flu scary, Zika sounds much the same

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: reldra

Yes but the problem is it only states "potential" it also doesn't state what percent of those infected suffered such complications, it could be 1% it could be 10% it could be 99% but it doesn't say. So when it's saying stuff like that and then admitting that it's "usually relatively mild and requires no specific treatment." it begs the question, what's so scary ?

The Flu has the potential to kill and cause complications for certain people, yet nobody finds the Flu scary, Zika sounds much the same

I used the article you quoted and now you believe it lacks specifics. You can't use the article both ways.

The flu is normally worse for the very old and the very young, except for certain strains. Zika ahas been found to not discriminate.

a reply to: reldra

It lacks specifics in what makes it so apparently scary, it's WHY I used the article in the first place because it doesn't make out Zika to be as scary as we're supposedly being led to believe by the media.

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: reldra

It lacks specifics in what makes it so apparently scary, it's WHY I used the article in the first place because it doesn't make out Zika to be as scary as we're supposedly being led to believe by the media.

The article title says 'scarier than initially thought'. It does not say how much scarier, a little or a lot. The experts are more concerned than they were before. For some reason, they believe it is not the same as a mild flu. maybe the WHO page will be updated from last month. I don't know.

a reply to: reldra

Or it could be just another knee jerk reaction like it was for

H5N1 (avian/bird flu)
H1N1 (Pig flu)
HIV virus
Ebola
Anthrax
SARS
MRSA
MERS

And the hundreds of other viruses that have plagued humanity for millennia

This article sums it up nicely

Bottom line: This is not something that is merely happening to us, a cosmic misfortune, a one-off event over which we must get up on our hind legs and howl at our governments for insufficient diligence. It is, on the contrary, a result of things we do as a modern society—traveling, transporting people and things speedily around the globe, having babies to the point where there are more than seven billion of us on this planet, so that we now represent an irresistible resource for any virus that can adapt to preying upon us—and it’s part of a longer, broader pattern. In 2012, MERS coronavirus emerged from Saudi Arabia, stirring our concerns. In 2014 it was Ebola, blazing out of West Africa in search of a larger host base. Next year it will be virus X, and the year after, virus Y. This year it is Zika.

Note don't take this as being directed at you, it's aimed at the CNN article

Why do I get this feeling that another inoculation is coming our way ? Maybe the WHO ?(there is a reason for that acronym) . Another Flu type scare for another ponzi scheme coming down ? How may of these have we had since 2000? How many avian ,swine , dog , cat , rabbit , amoeba flu related , ebola , flesh-eating , smallpox, measles virus outbreaks can we endure ? Oh , forgot West Nile.

I hope this is not a case of the "boy who cried wolf" . That we keep hearing this type of diarrhea of the mouth over and over from the WHO until we are so numb to it.......

S&F

Scarier than we initially thought? In other words we have known about these diseases for decades and since it was perceived as a third world problem we didn't take the necessary steps to quell another outbreak because we didn't feel like spending the time and money necassary to do.

a reply to: mothersuperior

They've know about Zika since they first discovered it in the Zika Forest (hence the name) in 1947

a reply to: mothersuperior

not at all, this shows its long known whereabouts and relative rarity.
from 1952 to 2007 there were 14 known cases.
the bigger issue, like the recent ebola outbreak, is telling the truth, the easiest way to transmit is via sex.
white nurses coming back from darkest africa, rather than seen as helping people would be labelled as social pariahs.
now its south america, much closer to the USA, and cue the theorists, paranoid and uneducated making wild claims.

remember HIV/AIDS was labelled a gay disease, now in the UK straight people have it in greater numbers and, america is catching up.

Just saw it on Fox and CNN - WHO asking for over $2 billion dollars (thats billion with a b) to combat the Zika virus.Here we go again....They are worse than the guy sitting outside the store with hat in hand. At least he has a legitimate need.

a reply to: Gothmog

Disaster capitalism at its worst.....
Like the security companies who also provide the computer viruses they secure against
The WHO is doing the same thing with diseases....
Id bet that this zika has had a little help getting around....
Like Halliburton providing the sub standard concrete for the Ocean Ranger disaster.....
The well blows and Halliburton and subsidiaries make a bundle on the clean up, and get rid of a stock of correxit that is banned elsewhere in the world....
We are cattle to be milked for our money....plain and simple....
Large corporations are preying on us in ways we don't quite understand yet....
The next thing will be billions for a vaccine you just watch....