Mosquitoes capable of carrying Zika virus may have colony in Ontario
The insects tested negative for both the Zika and West Nile virus Species can carry Dengue fever From CBC.ca: A mosquito species capable of transmitting the Zika virus and other tropical diseases may have established a colony in southwestern Ontario, a development that could mean changes for Canadian health-care providers. Two adult Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, also known as the Asian tiger mosquito, were recently trapped in Windsor-Essex, following the 17 found last year, according to the...
Zoonotic transmission: predictive mapping
Barbara Han, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., has been working on mapping zoonoses. Drawing on hundreds of studies of emerging zoonotic diseases that come from mammals, she has tracked what classes of creature harbor the most known human pathogens, and where those reservoirs are most likely to be found. The results, published Tuesday in the journal Trends in Parasitology, are complicated and...
Canadian-designed mosquito trap could help fight Zika virus
A Canadian-led research team has taken a form of trash that promotes the spread of mosquitoes and turned it into a potential weapon against the disease-carrying insects. The scientists have repurposed used tires — which can fill with rain water and provide an ideal breeding chamber for female mosquitoes — by fashioning chunks of the rubberized material into traps for their eggs. "What we are aiming at is destroying the second...
FDA approves experimental test to screen blood donations for Zika virus
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday that it would allow the use of an experimental test to screen blood donations for contamination with the Zika virus. The move means that Puerto Rico, which had halted local blood donations and had imported nearly 6,000 units of red blood from the continental United States, will soon be able to resume collecting donations from residents. And it should help blood banks...