Zika Virus
By Bethany Else & Courtney Less
What is the Zika virus?
The Zika Virus is a disease spread through mosquito bites, the mosquito that often carries Zika is the Aedes aegypti. The most common symptoms include fevers, joint pain, conjunctivitis, and rashes. Symptoms of the Zika virus have been reported to last anywhere from several days to a week. Patients with the Zika virus are not usually sick enough to stay in hospitals; also there are rarely any deaths from Zika. Although if you are pregnant with Zika there can be a serious defect on the baby. This defect is usually called microcephaly, where the babies head is smaller than normal due to a stop in growth, along with other brain defects.
All of the countries were Zika is present
What is currently being done to eliminate the spread of the Zika virus?
All that you can do yourself to lower your risks of getting Zika is wearing long sleeves in foreign countries and wear insect repellent. As far as the CDC, they have created a test that will assure that you have the illness with in a week.
Could we use GMO mosquito to remove the Zika carrying mosquito population?
It takes a lot of money and hard work to control mosquito population. New products are constantly being worked on to make controlling the mosquitos more safe and effective. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the primary carrier of the Zika virus, is being genetically modified to jeopardize the offspring of Zika carrying females. With no living offspring, hopefully the Zika virus will be eliminated completely.
Bibliography
"Prevention." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 Apr. 2016. Web. 16 May
"CDC Director: What We’re Doing about the Zika Virus." CDC Director Blog Thoughts from CDC Director Tom Frieden MD MPH. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.
Pictures- "Aedes Aegypti." - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.
"Zika Virus: What You Need to Know." Diseases Destinations Zika Virus What You Need to Know Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.