Physicians like me are learning about Zika along with our patients. This takes a dose of humility on our part and an understanding from our patients that we learn something new every single day.
Aedes aegypti: bringing you Zika, dengue and Chikungunya.
Ian Jacobs/Flickr
Zika had already reached 46,000 probable cases by the end of May 2016 and is transmitted by the same mosquito species as dengue and Chikungunya.
A display used to educate the public on rubella vaccination and the mother-to-fetus transmission of this virus.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Public Health Image Library
Though separated by time and place, there are surprising similarities in the the social issues raised by the rubella outbreak of 1964-65 and the recent Zika outbreak in South America.
GMOs may very well have filled up that syringe.
Syringe image via www.shutterstock.com
Public health experts enlist the molecular biology tools that create genetically modified organisms – as well as the GMOs themselves – in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.
An aerial view of the Christ the Redeemer statue and Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
The chance the someone at the Rio games will import the virus to their home country is low.
Is a Zika vaccine being tested ahead of vaccines for other flaviviruses because Zika’s occurring in the context of an international sporting competition?
Christian Bruna/AAP
Recently two events concerning the Zika epidemic coincided: two potential vaccines against the virus were declared a success when used in mice, and Jason Day withdrew from the Olympic Games.
There’s something in the bite.
chakkrachai nicharat/Shutterstock.com
Innovations targeted at mosquito control are good but should not draw focus away from the tried and tested public health measures to control mosquito-borne diseases.
A human-dependent mosquito, the range of the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti is projected to grow in the U.S. and affect more people globally.
sanofi-pasteur/flickr
Andrew Monaghan, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
More people in the U.S. and world will be exposed to the disease-carrying mosquito Aedes aegypti, not just because of warmer temperatures but global population changes as well.
Academics have sent an open letter to the World Health Organisation calling for the Olympics to be postponed or moved because of the Zika threat. They’re overreacting.
Are Olympic athletes, officials, reporters and spectators at risk travelling to this Zika-affected city?
Marcelo Sayao/AAP
The outbreak of mosquito-borne Zika virus in South America has cast a shadow over preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Rio de Janerio.
The antiviral condoms help protect against HIV, herpes and HPV.
Shutterstock
The number of new Zika-related microcephaly cases in Brazil is falling. But it’s too early to relax.
Mosquitoes, thousands of mosquitoes! Mosquitoes found in our local wetlands can often overwhelm us but even mosquitoes that have moved into our backyards can cause problems.
Look beyond transgenic techniques that add new genes to a species. People have used selective breeding techniques to change plants and animals for millennia – why not try them on mosquitoes?
Some 60% of bugs that infect humans originated in animals.
CDC Global/Fickr
The world’s scientific community is focused on how to improve detection and responses to emerging diseases such as Zika virus and Ebola. So what can we learn from the most recent large-scale outbreaks?
Acute disseminated encephalomylitis can lead to coma.
from www.shutterstock.com.au
To tackle Zika and other viral outbreaks, we need to focus not only on the pathology of the disease, but also on the global political and economic architecture.
Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Associate Dean For Global One Health, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; and Director, Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program, Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University