Zika can infect adult brain cells, not just fetal cells, study suggests

The virus also has been linked to cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults, a rare autoimmune disorder that can result in paralysis and even death.

Now, in a study in mice, researchers have found evidence that suggests adult brain cells critical to learning and memory also might be susceptible to the Zika virus.

Zika can infect adult brain cells, not just fetal cells, study suggests

So this thing just keeps getting worse. What, if anything, can we do about this issue being spread by these mighty biting bugaboos?

a reply to: HunkaHunka

Damn. This virus they genetically modified so to promote vaccines is turning out to be quite a bugger.

I hope no one in Rio catches it.

Thanks for the update.

a reply to: swanne

Screw Rio I live in Florida, and skeeters love me...i am not amused...
Seriously though, it's not like this is a new virus. So why all the new revelations and complications? I would really love to see the list of labs with live samples doing work with this over the last say...5-10years.

a reply to: RickyD

Me too. Microbiology is not my area but something smells fishy to me when a virus which went local and unnoticed until now suddenly becomes a worldwide danger.

It's been a decade now we seem to have a new pandemic-prone virus per year. Last year it was Ebola, now it's Zika...

I'm keeping track of this thread to see how long before someone says that obviously, Zika is what's wrong with Bill and Hillary...

and as far as mosquitoes goes, they don't like the taste/smell of B vitamins. Take a high dose B vitamin complex every day; good for other reasons, too. Makes your skin smell bad to mosquitoes.

Or, you could move to Southern California. No mosquitoes here, too dry. They'd just evaporate like vampires in the sun.

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Just found this on the NHS guidelines.

Using insect repellent that contains DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) on exposed skin, after sunscreen has been applied. DEET can be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women in concentrations up to 50%, and in infants and children older than two months. It should not be used on babies younger than two months.

www.nhs.uk...

Scary If I remember correctly didn't one country advise no one should have children for two years? and now is it going to make people a little more thick?.

I have nothing to worry about. If I had a brain I might worry.

There's so much they don't know.
And I have come to not trust completely what comes out of the mouths of MSM....

The study you site says one thing....then we have this....from Science Daily

Brazil's microcephaly epidemic continues to pose a mystery -- if Zika is the culprit, why are there no similar epidemics in other countries also hit hard by the virus? In Brazil, the microcephaly rate soared with more than 1,500 confirmed cases. But in Colombia, a recent study of nearly 12,000 pregnant women infected with Zika found zero microcephaly cases. If Zika is to blame for microcephaly, where are the missing cases?

This study out of the U. of Minnesota points to a dengue vaccine as being part of the problem
www.cidrap.umn.edu...

Then here....zika is only part of the problem
www.nature.com...

Zika virus has spread throughout Brazil, but extremely high rates of microcephaly have been reported only in the country's northeast. Although evidence suggests that Zika can cause microcephaly, the clustering pattern hints that other environmental, socio-economic or biological factors could be at play.

It seems to really affect mental behavior too

a reply to: HunkaHunka

Sounds kind of like the stuff of zombie movies.

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian

and as far as mosquitoes goes, they don't like the taste/smell of B vitamins. Take a high dose B vitamin complex every day; good for other reasons, too. Makes your skin smell bad to mosquitoes.

It's makes your pee reek as well. I have to clean the toilets more often the sediment build up quicker from damned b vitamins.

Beats not being on them. I'm okay smelling funny and staying alive with lots of energy.

Stay funky, friend.

a reply to: HunkaHunka

Something they didn't explain is how they infected the mice to determine if it can infect the brain cells. Did they just infect mice like they were getting a mosquito bite and then harvest the brains to find out? Or did they directly inject the brains of the mice to make sure it crossed the blood/brain barrier to see if it could infect the cells of adult brains? Or did they culture mouse brain cells and put viral cells onto that to see what happened?

The neurological syndrome described is one that can be triggered by any bacterial or viral illness that can target nervous tissue or it can be triggered by nothing at all. It is not one of the symptoms of Zika merely a secondary effect. Both mono and the flu can also trigger it among others.

Reading the study, they used retro-orbital injection which basically gives the virus a clear shot straight to the brain and bypasses most of the blood/brain barrier. It's basically a kinder of introducing something straight to the brain than injection through the skull.

So ... OK, maybe Zika could infect these cells, but remember, most mosquitos aren't going to be biting you through your eye socket and behind your eyeball directly onto your optic nerve. This virus still has to pass through all of your body and by your immune system before it ever gets into your head and it has to bypass your blood brain barrier.

This study did not subject it to those challenges because all they wanted to know was if the virus could do it when presented with the opportunity which they carefully gave it. Also, they used TKO mice which are specifically bred to have compromised immune systems!

So, really, think about this one. They're scaring you on purpose. There is no reason to try to directly draw any comparison yet from this study to any real world outcome. There is no reason to think Zika can eat your brain unless a very specific set of circumstances is met.

a reply to: METAMANKIND

In what way? do we know yet?.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: HunkaHunka

Damn. This virus they genetically modified so to promote vaccines is turning out to be quite a bugger.

I hope no one in Rio catches it.

Thanks for the update.

Or maybe to promote GM mosquitoes?

Oh my gosh you guys are so smart. I was living in S Florida and moved back to Georgia to help my mother. Had planned to get back to Florida asap but with this zika I was getting worried. Florida is where I grew up and is really my home. Should I be afraid? I don't have any trust in the MSM. I am way past worrying about pregnancy but my daughter isn't-so who to believe? And if they really believe the zika destroys a developing baby's brain why haven't they bused all the pregnant moms to Canada?

a reply to: HunkaHunka
I read in comments of a blog that someone claimed ZIKA was a genetic manipulation experiment (on flies) intended for a depopulation test run, but it got out of control. Read it some time ago, link could be in my LINUX Firefox history or in my former windows 10 Chrome history, I'm now completely LINUX and Chrome history is gone and disk reformated. If you like I can have a look in the history I still got. However its not proof, not even evidence, just a rumour, but where there is smoke there is fire!

Now I remember more: There was a company mentioned that does genetic manipulation on if I recall correctly flies, also linked to the alleged mass sterilizations by WHO tetanus vaccines in Kenya.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

The local factory that makes DEET is running 24/7

a reply to: galien8

Most likely ZIKA is a fly with genetically modified viruses, makes more sense, however as the fly being the host of the GM virus, this makes the whole fly GM

But how does the virus proliferates among the fly population? Sexual reproduction? Only to offspring?

doesn't bill gates own th patent to that?

I heard the other day that the Zika virus has spread to the UK now. Sounds like a bad idea.