If condoms are OK for Zika, why not Aids, Pope Francis?

Barbara Ellen, op-ed in The Guardian:
Pope Francis has indicated that the Catholic church is prepared to condoneartificial contraception to avoid pregnancy in response to the Zika virus, believed to be spread primarily by mosquitoes (though also possibly by sexual contact). Zika is suspected to be the cause of thousands of cases of microcephaly (unusually small heads) and other severe birth abnormalities and conditions, leading desperate women to rush to terminate pregnancies in heavily affected areas such as South America. Many women affected by Zika have been begging for help from outside aid agencies.

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First Zika virus case confirmed in North Carolina

RALEIGH (WTVD) --

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that a state resident who has recently travelled outside of the country has been confirmed to have the Zika virus.

It's the first confirmed case of Zika in North Carolina. Officials said the person was in a country where there is active Zika virus transmission.

Full story at ABC11

Why People Want to Believe the Zika Virus Is a Conspiracy

Look at today’s Internet with the right lens, and you can watch a conspiracy theory being born: While scientists are increasingly convinced that Zika virus is behind an uptick of the birth defect microcephaly in Brazil, an Argentinian activist group Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns has blamed—perhaps not surprisingly—spraying.

In this case, the activists are blaming insect killers called larvicides. Bonus conspiracy points! The larvicide vaguely has to do with ag-chem company (and perpetual badguy) Monsanto.

The group’s speculation spread. Small online news sites covered it over the weekend, and then on Tuesday, the Washington Post published a story. Here is a secret about journalism: Headlines that are questions are for butt-covering. Case in point: “Could chemicals—rather than the Zika virus—be to blame for birth defects in Brazil?”

More bonus points! A celebrity tweeted it out.
https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/699969705264545792

Look, it’s almost certainly not a Monsanto larvicide hurting kids. But the fear is understandable.

Read the rest of the story at Wired

The Guardian: Pope suggests contraception can be condoned in Zika crisis

Pope Francis has indicated that pregnant women exposed to the Zika virus may be permitted to use contraception to avoid pregnancy, in a departure from Catholic teaching.

However he reiterated the church’s staunch opposition to abortion, saying it was a crime and “absolute evil”.

His comments came as women in South America frantically try to terminate pregnancies for fear of giving birth to babies with microcephaly, which gives them unusually small heads.

Speaking to reporters on the papal plane as he returned to Rome after a visit to Mexico, Francis obliquely suggested that artificial contraception could be used in extreme situations to avoid pregnancy.

Read the story at The Guardian

Podcast: On the Media - The Zika Effect

The threat of the Zika virus has been covered extensively, but the reality is still largely unknown. A look away from the panicked headlines at what we know and don't know about the virus, as well as how Zika serves as a window into global questions surrounding climate change and reproductive rights. 

The podcast of On The Media is entirely about The Zika Effect.

Fish, frogs and toads are now warriors in Zika battle

SAN DIEGO, El Salvador (AFP) - With larva-chomping fish and genetically modified insects, Latin Americans are deploying legions of little helpers to destroy mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus in the world's latest mass health scare.

Scientists are devising numerous ways to try and stamp out the mosquitoes whose bites spread the virus, which they suspect can cause brain damage in babies and paralysis in adults.

Some want to wipe out baby mosquito larvae in standing water where the insects breed. Others propose to zap the male mosquitoes' privates with radiation to make them impotent.

Still others just want a plain old toad in their home to gobble any mosquitoes that buzz in.

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NY Times: Obama to Ask Congress for $1.8 Billion to Combat Zika Virus

President Obama will request more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding from Congress to fight the Zika virus, which has spread to 26 countries and territories in the Western Hemisphere, though not to the United States.

The money would go toward expanding programs that control mosquitoes, which transmit the virus, as well as research into vaccines and new public education programs, particularly for pregnant women, the president said in an interview Monday on "CBS This Morning."

Rest of the story at New York Times

AP: Zika virus found in saliva, urine samples, Brazil researcher says

The head of a top Brazilian health research institute says its scientists have discovered the presence of active Zika virus in urine and saliva samples.

Paulo Gadelha says that the virus's ability to infect other people through the two body fluids requires further study.

However he says that the discovery calls for special precaution to be taken with pregnant women. Brazilian researchers have pointed to a suspected link between pregnant women's infection with the virus and a rare birth defect in babies.

Gadelha says the discovery does not yet merit any additional health recommendation

He spoke Friday at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro.


Read on at AP

BBC: Zika virus infection 'through sex' reported in US

A rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex, not a mosquito bite, has been reported in the US.

A patient infected in Dallas, Texas, is likely to have been infected by sexual contact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told the BBC.

The person had not travelled to infected areas but their partner had returned from Venezuela.

Read the story at BBC

Zika virus: World Health Organisation declares public health emergency

The World Health Organisation has declared a “public health emergency of international concern” due to the apparent link of the Zika virus to a surge in serious birth defects in South America.

WHO chief Margaret Chan said the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly was “strongly suspected but not yet scientifically proven.”

“After a review of the evidence, the committee advised that the clusters of microcephaly and other neurological complications constitute an extraordinary event and public health threat to other parts of the world,” Chan said.

She said an international coordinated response was necessary, although there was no reason to introduce restrictions on travel or trade. Mosquito control was the top concern, she said.


Zika virus could be bigger global health threat than Ebola, say health experts
 Read more
The designation was recommended by a committee of independent experts, and should help fast-track international action and research priorities.

Chan advised pregnant women to take measures to protect themselves.

“If you can delay travel and it does not affect your other family commitments, it is something they can consider,” she said. “If they need to travel, they can get advice from their physician and take personal protective measures, like wearing long sleeves and shirts and pants and use mosquito repellent."

The Guardian

The WHO just declared a public health emergency related to Zika virus

Zika, a virus that barely bothered humans until last year, has been moving. First, it made its way from Africa to a series of tiny islands in Micronesia. Then it bounced through the Pacific Ocean to Easter Island, off the coast of Chile. From there, it was on to Brazil. Now Zika has infected people in more than 20 countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

The mosquito-borne virus doesn't seem to harm most of its victims. But there's increasing evidence that it can cause serious damage to the brains of fetuses and, in rare instances, devastating neurological problems in adults.

Read more at VOX.com

Zika crisis: World Health Organization in emergency talks

An emergency meeting of the World Health Organization is being held to discuss the "explosive" spread of the Zika virus.
The meeting in Geneva will decide whether to declare a global emergency.
WHO officials have described Zika as moving "from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions".
Most cases will have no symptoms but the virus has been linked to brain abnormalities in thousands of babies in Brazil.
Meanwhile in the country, officials have been given permission to break into properties that could be harbouring mosquito breeding grounds.
They will be able to force entry when the place is abandoned or when nobody is there to give access to the house.

BBC about the Zika health crisis

USA Today: WHO to hold emergency meeting Monday on Zika virus

The World Health Organization will hold an emergency meeting Monday to find ways to battle the Zika virus, which is linked to birth defects and "spreading explosively" through the Americas.

The WHO could classify the Zika outbreak now in 25 countries and territories as a "public health emergency of international concern," deserving of a coordinated global response.

An emergency declaration is "similar to a global Amber Alert for public health," Susan Kim, deputy director of Georgetown University's O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law in Washington, said Sunday. "An emergency declaration by WHO is a spotlight on the issue, telling the world that this is something the world needs to pay attention to."

Rest of the story at USA Today