National Health Emergency - Zika

[tr1ad]

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has declared a national health emergency over the Zika virus.

Speaking at the Health Ministry's weekly media briefing, Deyalsingh said the mosquito borne virus poses a clear threat to T&T.

Pregnant women are being warned to protect themselves from getting bitten by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.

A Rapid Response Unit (RRU) is being set up to treat with Zika and the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, Deyalsingh revealed.

The Local Government Ministry, the National Security Ministry and state agencies with a stake in environmental concerns will be involved in getting this Unit off the ground.

The Minister promised that resources would be allocated to ensure that fogging and spraying continues, and well as the dissemination of information on the Zika virus.

Deyalsingh said he intends to meet with the Local Government Minister and Chairmen of all Regional Corporations regarding the RRU.

He said fogging has been ongoing with 51,285 homes in St George, Victoria and Caroni having been reached.

[STORM1234]

Barbados
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Cape Verde
• Colombia
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• French Guiana
• Guadeloupe
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Martinique
• Mexico
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Puerto Rico
• Saint Martin
• Samoa
• Suriname
• Venezuela
• US Virgin Islands



I find it really foolish that people in this country would think that the zikla virus has somehow bypassed our shores and skipped us altogether and gone on to other countries, the harsh reality is that zikla is already here, the authorities are simply trying to play "catch up" with the situation.

[X_Factor]

Probaby no child has been born with the notorious sign

You know there must be some conspiracy theories
http://www.trinfinity8.com/zika-virus-mosquitos/

[SUPAstarr]

This is seriously worrying, since in a lot of cases ppl dont show any symptoms.

[streetbeastINC.]

ppl just have to keep there property clean and free of vessels containing clear water.

[fallen_angel]

god is a trini

[redmanjp]

Carnival go make ting worse - if it not already here the influx of persons from affected countries would bring it in
even worse Carnival> carnival babies!

[redmanjp]

Probaby no child has been born with the notorious sign

You know there must be some conspiracy theories
http://www.trinfinity8.com/zika-virus-mosquitos/

database error - they don't want us to know the truth!

[STORM1234]

Probaby no child has been born with the notorious sign

You know there must be some conspiracy theories
http://www.trinfinity8.com/zika-virus-mosquitos/

database error - they don't want us to know the truth!

Exactly. I am pretty sure info is being suppressed as per usual.

[zoom rader]

Carnival go make ting worse - if it not already here the influx of persons from affected countries would bring it in
even worse Carnival> carnival babies!

Trinis yet to understand why need to ban carnival

[redmanjp]

an infected person coming in here just has to get bite by a mosquito which in turn would spread the virus by biting others

what they should do is anyone coming into the country from affected countries should be given insect repellents, mosquito mats etc. and told to avoid being bitten so as to not transmit the virus

[X_Factor]

http://www.trinfinity8.com/zika-virus-mosquitos/

link is working

[De Dragon]

Good move by the Minister to realize the seriousness, and to attempt to raise the awareness levels of the populace.

[Coppershot]

http://www.trinfinity8.com/zika-virus-mosquitos/

link is working

in reference to the link posted, just sharing


Bill Gates population control @2:45

[Coppershot]

from 2011
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v29/n1/full/nbt0111-9a.html

Oxitec's plans for transgenic mosquito trials have not been without controversy in the past. They have been criticized by environmental groups, such as Ottawa-based ETC Group and EcoNexus of Oxford, concerned about the risks of releasing an entirely new strain of organism into the environment. Activists warn that transgenic insect releases that reduce wild mosquito numbers might not only create an 'empty niche', which other potentially damaging insects might fill, but also affect organisms higher in the food chain that rely on mosquitoes as a dietary source.

[streetbeastINC.]

the link with zika and microcephaly is still up in the air...dengue is here...we need to take that serious.......


Brazil is enduring an extraordinary outbreak of microcephaly, a rare birth defect that results in infants being born with abnormally small heads and brains. Since last fall, more than 4,000 suspected cases have been reported, and authorities have blamed an unusual virus, Zika, carried by mosquitos.

But now it appears that a number of those cases may not in fact be microcephaly, or not linked to Zika.

Zika virus FAQ: what is it, and what are the risks as it spreads?

On Wednesday, Brazil’s Ministry of Health said 4,180 cases of Zika-related microcephaly had been reported since October. The country is trying to find out which cases it could actually confirm from notifications provided by doctors – a slow and complicated process as the information is compiled and checked by health secretariats in 26 states and one federal district spread across South America’s biggest country.

After experts scrutinized 732 of the cases they found that more than half either weren’t microcephaly, or weren’t related to Zika.

Just 270 were confirmed as microcephaly that appears to be linked to Zika or other infectious diseases, according to the latest ministry bulletin.

It’s not yet clear whether the same pattern will emerge from the rest of the 3,448 cases that Brazil has to examine. And health experts say the huge number of cases is still very worrisome -- as is the rapid spread of Zika through the Americas. (Brazil reported just 147 cases of microcephaly in 2014).

Microcephaly causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads, and can cause motor and learning difficulties, among other problems. The condition can also be caused by genetic factors or drug or alcohol abuse during pregnancy.

Some scientists said the new data suggest that Brazil will have fewer cases of Zika-related microcephaly than originally feared. The country may have over-counted microcephaly cases because it initially asked doctors to report all births of babies with a head circumference of 33 centimeters or less -- but some of those were simply children with normally small heads.


“It is possible that the number of cases of microcephaly with suspected relationship to Zika will be much less,” said Esper Kallas, an infectious diseases specialist and professor of medicine at the University of São Paulo. “I think it will be less than a third” of the possible cases that have been reported, he said.

Kallas also said the outbreak had made Brazil realize that microcephaly unrelated to Zika was more common than authorities realized in the past.

Why the United States is vulnerable to the alarming spread of Zika virus

Other specialists, though, were wary of the new data, questioning the methodology that was being used. They noted that authorities in one of the badly affected areas, the northeastern state of Bahia, have used relatively cheaper transcranial ultrasound imaging -- rather than CT brain imaging scans --- to try to confirm and discard cases of microcephaly.

The more inexpensive test might not spot milder cases of the condition, said Ganeshwaran Mochida, a pediatric neurologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. “There could be some cases mistakenly discarded due to not enough sensitivity,” he said.

Zika was first confirmed in Brazil in May last year, and has spread rapidly in the hemisphere, reaching 23 countries and territories. Its explosive growth has alarmed health professionals who worry about the suspected linkage to microcephaly and a rare nervous system syndrome known as Guillain-Barré that can lead to paralysis.

The World Health Organization has convened an emergency meeting to explore ways of stopping the transmission of Zika for Monday.

“The level of alarm is extremely high, as is the level of uncertainty," Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said during a briefing of member countries on Thursday in Geneva.

In October, when the Brazilian government began requiring doctors to report suspected cases, they were instructed to notify the Health Ministry if the circumference of a newborn baby’s head was 33 centimeters (about 13 inches) or less.

Click here for more information!
WHO: Zika virus ‘spreading explosively,’ to convene emergency meeting

In December, the ministry reduced the figure to 32 centimeters (12.6 inches) or less, roughly in line with World Health Organization guidelines. The ministry said some babies with the larger measurement were later found to be healthy, although a ministry spokeswoman said she did not have exact figures on how many.

Some officials at the state level say they also believe that many of the cases of possible Zika-linked microcephaly will also be found to be something else.

In northeastern Pernambuco state, one of the areas hardest-hit by the health crisis, authorities estimate that less than half of the 1,373 reported suspect cases are likely to be microcephaly linked to Zika. Some children just have small heads, others could have microcephaly caused by genetic factors, or alcohol or drug abuse by the mother during pregnancy -- cases which do not show the same type of brain malformation.

So far, the state has investigated 248 cases, using CT brain imaging scans. A total of 138 cases were confirmed as probable Zika-related microcephaly, and 110 were discarded, local authorities said.

“There are many normal children who were included [in the original count]. This generates a lot of anguish for the families, for the general population,” said Vanessa van der Linden, a pediatric neurologist in Recife. Van der Linden was the first doctor to identify the microcephaly outbreak in Brazil.

Mochida from Boston Children's Hospital said that using standard U.S. growth charts, the 33- centimeter guide would put 10 percent of American newborns in the category of suspected microcephaly - clearly way too high a percentage.

Authorities in Bahia state have so far confirmed 35 of the reported cases of Zika-related microcephaly, and discarded 27. The state still has 533 other suspected cases of zika-related microcephaly that it will investigate, officials said.

While some of the suspected cases of Zika-related microcephaly have been discounted, scientists and health officials are hardly breathing easy.

Click here for more information!
There is some preliminary evidence that even babies born in Brazil with normal-sized heads may have developmental defects, according to Albert Ko, an infectious disease doctor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. Ko has been working with colleagues at maternity hospitals in Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city and one of the places where the epidemic is most pronounced, to study what is causing the birth defects in newborns.

Ko cautioned that the evidence so far is “extremely anecdotal.” But it is worrisome, he said, because clinicians are finding neurological lesions and smaller brains even in babies who look normal.

Clinicians started identifying larger than expected numbers of fetuses with birth defects during ultrasound screenings in July, August and September, he said. Some of the babies were born with intracranial lesions that may be due to infection with Zika virus.

Researchers in Brazil are working with the Brazilian health ministry to pin down answers, he said.

Sun reported from Washington

[novastar1]

Interesting link to read. I remember this was proposed in Trinidad by the last health minister.
Seems like a good thing that it didn't


http://theantimedia.org/zika-outbreak-e ... d-in-2015/

[sMASH]

I know that, zika didn't have any links to micro cephali in the previous countries it was in. Probably is sum ting else it combines with, probably it has mutated, but we don't know for sure. But it always is better to err on the side of caution in these situations.

[zoom rader]

Good move by the Minister to realize the seriousness, and to attempt to raise the awareness levels of the populace.

Yeah Agreed but we have lackadaisical hospital and clinic staff to deal with.

[Coppershot]

From 2009
http://www.etcgroup.org/content/big-fix-9-tech-controversies-watch-2009

This also looks to be the year when it will proceed with a large scale trial release of genetically modified mosquitos also intended to spread sterility in wild populations. Oxitec, which received a $5m grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, claims the technology will help wipe out dengue fever which is on the rise as climate change bites. The ‘terminator mosquitos’ were due to be released on Pulau Ketam island, which lies off the coast of Malaysia, but local Chinese fishermen raised concerns that they are being used as a test bed. Further experiments of this type have been planned for Mexico and India. Biosafety experts warn that the genes may spread, the sterility plan may fail and the product may contravene a global moratorium on terminator (sterility) technology.

Two scenarios i am thinking occurred:
1.It may be possible knew about mutation which would bring about a resurgence of the Zika Virus, thus allowing Oxitec and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to profit in selling a vaccine
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Vaccine-Delivery/Vaccine-Innovation-Award

2.GM Mosquitoes naturally inter bred or mutated in wild, making it a better vector for spreading Zika Virus and everyone was caught of guard but the undesired side effects. My $0.02. Nature always finds a way to right a wrong.

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35459797

Zika declared global emergency by WHO

Zika poses a global public health emergency requiring an urgent, united response, says the World Health Organization.

Experts are worried that the virus is spreading far and fast, with devastating consequences.

The infection has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains.

The WHO alert puts Zika in the same category of international concern as Ebola.

It means research and aid will be fast-tracked to tackle the infection.




Currently, there is no vaccine or medication to stop Zika. The only way to avoid catching it is to avoid getting bitten by the Aedes mosquitoes that transmit the infection.

The WHO has already warned that Zika is likely to "spread explosively" across nearly all of the Americas. More than 20 countries, including Brazil, are reporting cases.

Most infections are mild and cause few or no symptoms, although there have been some reported cases of a rare paralysis disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The bigger health threat though is believed to be in pregnancy, to the unborn child.

There have been around 4,000 reported cases of microcephaly - babies born with small brains - in Brazil alone since October.

[redmanjp]

so how would the virus come here? would mosquitoes migrate or someone would have to bring it in and get bitten?

[streetbeastINC.]

imported case, one of our local aedes albopi/or e bites the person they then become the vector, bite and infect another person and the cycle starts....

[megadoc1]

https://brazilianshrunkenheadbabies.wordpress.com/about/

About

In late 2014, the Ministry of Health of Brazil announced the introduction of the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis) vaccine for all pregnant women in that country as part of its routine vaccination program. The move was aimed at trying to contain the resurgence of pertussis in Brazil.

In December 2015, the Brazilian government declared an emergency after 2,400 Brazilian babies were found to be born with shrunken heads (microcephaly) and damaged brains since October.

Brazilian public health officials don’t know what is causing the increase in microcephaly cases in babies born in Brazil, but they are theorizing that it may be caused by a virus known as “Zika,” which is spread by mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti)—in the same way as is the West Nile virus.

The theory is largely based on the fact that they found the Zika virus in a baby with microcephaly following an autopsy of the dead child. The virus was also found in the amniotic fluid of two mothers whose babies had the condition.

Note that Zika is not a new virus; it has been around for decades. No explanation has been given as to why suddenly it could be causing all these cases of microcephaly. No one is seriously asking the question, “What has changed?”

There is no theorizing about the possibility that the cases of microcephaly could be linked to the mandating of the Tdap vaccine for all pregnant women in Brazil about 10 months earlier. The government has “assumed” the cause is a virus.

FACT—Drug companies did not test the safety and effectiveness of giving Tdap vaccine to pregnant women before the vaccines were licensed in the U.S. and there is almost no data on inflammatory or other biological responses to this vaccine that could affect pregnancy and birth outcomes.

FACT—According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adequate testing has not been done in humans to demonstrate safety for pregnant women and it is not known whether the vaccines can cause fetal harm or affect reproduction capacity. The manufacturers of the Tdap vaccine state that human toxicity and fertility studies are inadequate and warn that Tdap should “be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.”

FACT—There are ingredients pertussis containing Tdap vaccine that have not been fully evaluated for potential genotoxic or other adverse effects on the human fetus developing in the womb that may negatively affect health after birth, including aluminum adjuvants, mercury containing (Thimerosal) preservatives and many more bioactive and potentially toxic ingredients.

FACT—There are serious problems with outdated testing procedures for determining the potency and toxicity of pertussis vaccines and some scientists are calling for limits to be established for specific toxin content of pertussis-containing vaccines.

FACT—There are no published biological mechanism studies that assess pre-vaccination health status and measure changes in brain and immune function and chromosomal integrity after vaccination of pregnant women or their babies developing in the womb.

FACT—Since licensure of Tdap vaccine in the U.S., there have been no well designed prospective case controlled studies comparing the health outcomes of large groups of women who get pertussis containing Tdap vaccine during pregnancy either separately or simultaneously compared to those who do not get the vaccines, and no similar health outcome comparisons of their newborns at birth or in the first year of life have been conducted. Safety and effectiveness evaluations that have been conducted are either small, retrospective, compare vaccinated women to vaccinated women or have been performed by drug company or government health officials using unpublished data.

FACT—FACT—The FDA has licensed Tdap vaccines to be given once as a single dose pertussis booster shot to individuals over 10 or 11 years old. The CDC’s recommendation that doctors give every pregnant woman a Tdap vaccination during every pregnancy—regardless of whether a woman has already received one dose of Tdap—is an off-label use of the vaccine.

FACT—Injuries and deaths from pertussis-containing vaccines are the most compensated claims in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and influenza vaccine injuries and deaths are the second most compensated claim.

FACT—A 2013 published study evaluating reports of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) following vaccination in the U. S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and in a European vaccine reaction reporting system found that pertussis containing DTaP was among the vaccines most frequently associated with brain inflammation in children between birth and age five.

Tdap is manufactured by two pharmaceutical companies: Sanofi Pasteur of France and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) of the United Kingdom.

The Sanofi Pasteur product contains aluminum phosphate, residual formaldehyde, residual glutaraldehyde, and 2-phenoxyethanola, along with the following growth mediums and process ingredients: Stainer-Scholte medium, casamino acids, dimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin, glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, aluminum phosphate, modified Mueller-Miller casamino acid medium without beef heart infusion, ammonium sulfate, 2-phenoxyethanol, water for injection.

The GSK product contains aluminum hydroxide, sodium chloride, residual formaldehyde, polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), along with the following growth mediums and process ingredients: modified Latham medium derived from bovine casein, Fenton medium containing bovine extract, formaldehyde, Stainer-Scholte liquid medium, glutaraldehyde, aluminum hydroxide.

Unsurprisingly, the Brazilian government announced on January 15, 2016 it will direct funds to a biomedical research center (Sao Paulo-based Butantan Institute) to help develop a vaccine against Zika. Development of the vaccine is expected to take 3-5 years. Again, no consideration to the irony that you may be developing a vaccine to address a problem that may have been CAUSED by a vaccine, and that that new vaccine may COMPOUND the problem No consideration to the possibility that the answer to the problem may not be to do MORE, but rather to do LESS (simply STOP giving Tdcap to pregnant women).

The number of cases iof microcephaly in Brazil has grown to 3,530 babies, as of mid-January 2016. Fewer than 150 such cases were seen in all of 2014.

Most of the microcephaly cases have been concentrated in Brazil’s poor northeast, though cases in Rio de Janeiro and other big cities have also been on the rise, prompting people to stock up on mosquito repellent. Health officials are warning Brazilians—especially pregnant women—to stay inside when possible and wear plenty of bug spray if they have to go out.

Wanna look up the ingredients in mosquito spray? Oh, and what deadly insecticide do you reckon they’ll mass fumigate with? DDT perhaps?

(Note. Contains information pieced together—often copy and pasted—from newspaper articles and information from the National Vaccine Information Center.)

[DVSTT]

god is a trini

This.

Trinis too slack.

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

god is a trini

This.

Trinis too slack.

Worked well in the ebola ched.

[sMASH]

Mega, yuh crack d case!

[mark2.0]

Ah man say they trying to control the world population... He say no baby in two years and people dying everyday equals to plenty house, food and wuk!

[Coppershot]

Zika is now a STD

Confirmation that the Zika Virus can be spread as an STD was found in Dallas, Texas, when an unnamed person was infected by means of sexual contact with someone who had recently visited one of the countries where the virus is picking up speed.

The Zika virus has now seen millions of cases worldwide, a large portion of which are in the South American country of Brazil. Its neighbors, like Argentina and Venezuela, have also seen an alarming spread in their tropical regions where mosquitoes flourish. The possibility of Zika being an STD could, however, expand its reach even further as vacationers return to their home countries and unknowingly spread the virus.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2761534/zika-virus-confirmed-as-std-in-u-s-dallas-texas-resident-suffers-infection-by-sexual-contact/

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-virus-sexual-contact-texas/

[pugboy]

My knees permanently crunchy after chikv
Only because it affecting the white ppl countries it is a big deal now...

I hear ppl saying don't spray in the bandit areas