These photos show mothers or family members holding infants born with microcephaly, one of many serious medical problems caused by congenital Zika syndrome.
AP Photo/Felipe Dana
Suan-Sin Foo, University of Southern California and Weiqiang Chen, University of Southern California
There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika. But researchers have identified factors in the blood that signal a fetus has Zika-related birth defects, helping mothers decide whether to terminate a pregnancy.
Warmer temperatures could lead to more zones of the country that make good breeding sites for mosquitoes.
Apichart Meesri / Shutterstock.com
Is our changing climate making regions of the US more suitable for ticks and mosquitoes that spread diseases? Or is the climate changing human physiology making us more vulnerable?
Climate change also has an impact on public health.
Shutterstock
Scientists need to continue working across disciplines to find ways to disrupt disease transmission in the context of climate change.
More than 3.9 billion people live in regions where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is present. This species transmits Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
mycteria/Shutterstock.com
For several billion people mosquitoes are more than a nuisance – they transmit deadly diseases. Now genetic modification may prove the most effective defense against the mosquito, preventing disease.
Mosquito abundance is linked to climate and weather, and global climate change may be helping spread these dangerous carriers of disease.
Psorophora ferox female, a potential vector for Madariaga virus. Photo taken on Heritage Island, Anacostia River, in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2012.
Wikimedia Commons
The collapse of Venezuela’s public health system has terrible consequences inside the country, but it also is giving rise to mosquito-borne viruses that could spread to nearby countries.
A female deer tick on a piece of straw.
Steve Ellingson/Shutterstock.com
Olivier Telle, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
The spread of infectious diseases such as chikungunya is closely linked to urban mobility, yet small Indian cities could play a crucial role in the resilience process.
An infection prevention and control professional wipes her gloves with a bleach wipe during an ebola virus training in Ottawa.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
Infectious diseases pose a continual threat to Canadians. Ensuring the population stays healthy requires increasing investment in our public health system.
Vast amounts of standing water in Houston and other hurricane-flooded areas are dangerous not only because of toxins. The water is a dangerous breeding ground for mosquitoes that transmit Zika.
The 2015 Zika outbreak in South America brought the virus to global attention. But tracing the history of the virus in West Africa can give clues to tackling future outbreaks.
President Trump wants to slash global health funding at a time when more investment is needed, not less. This spending can protect Americans – as well as foreigners – from deadly diseases.
Tiny bug, major disease spreader.
Dr. Paul Howell, USCDCP
Several sites in the US are releasing bacteria-infected mosquitoes as a way to fight mosquito-borne viruses that threaten people. What’s the science – and how well will it work?
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