'mosquito-borne disease' in Virus World

Tags
Current selected tag: 'mosquito-borne disease'. Clear

West Nile Virus Spreads In Los Angeles | Virus World | Scoop.it

From patch.com - September 9, 2019 7:19 PM

West Nile Virus Spreads In Los Angeles - Los Angeles, CA - More mosquitoes in the region tested positive for the potentially deadly virus, and authorities are asking residents to take precautions. The hot weather is just egging the mosquito season on, and officials Friday announced the spread of the West Nile Virus in the San Fernando Valley.

According to the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District, 11 new mosquito samples tested positive for West Nile virus. Mosquitos carrying the virus were found in Woodland Hills, Montebello, Santa Fe Springs, and South Whittier. In all, mosquitoes with West Nile Virus have been found within the district's service area to 25 this year. Already, they have been found in Northridge, Reseda, Canoga Park, Winnetka, Carson, Cerritos, Granada Hills, La Mirada, Lakewood, Long Beach, Montebello, Santa Fe Springs, Signall Hill, South Whittier, West Hills, and Woodland Hills.

People infected with the virus can experience a myriad of symptoms, ranging from no symptoms to seizures and death. West Nile virus is a leading cause of severe infections of the nervous system among adults older than age 50 in Los Angeles County. WNV is transmitted to people and animals through the bite of an infected mosquito. There is no cure for WNV. One in five persons infected with the virus will exhibit symptoms, which can include fever, headache, body aches, nausea, or a skin rash. These symptoms can last for several days to months. One in 150 people infected with the virus will require hospitalization. Severe symptoms include high fever, muscle weakness, neck stiffness, coma, paralysis, and possibly death.

So far this year, 57 WNV human cases have been reported in California, four of which were identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Weekly Update of WNV cases in California available at:

http://www.westnile.ca.gov/

Mosquitoes, the Deadliest Hunters for Humans on the Planet - The New York Times | Virus World | Scoop.it

From www.nytimes.com - July 28, 2019 11:48 AM

The female mosquito needs your blood to grow her eggs. Please don’t feel singled out. She bites everyone. There is no truth to the myths that mosquitoes prefer women over men or blondes and redheads over those with darker hair. She does, however, play favorites. Type O blood seems to be the vintage of choice. Stinky feet emit a bacterium that woos famished females, as do perfumes. As a parting gift, she leaves behind an itchy bump (an allergic reaction to her saliva) and potentially something far worse: infection with one of several deadly diseases, including malaria, Zika, West Nile, dengue and yellow fever.

Mosquitoes are our apex predator, the deadliest hunter of human beings on the planet. A swarming army of 100 trillion or more mosquitoes patrol nearly every inch of the globe, killing about 700,000 people annually. Researchers suggest that mosquitoes may have killed nearly half of the 108 billion humans who have ever lived across our relatively brief 300,000 years of existence.

Malarious mosquitoes patrolling the Pontine Marshes facilitated both the rise and the fall of the Roman Empire. Initially shielding the Eternal City from the Visigoths, Huns and Vandals, they eventually pointed their proboscises inward on Rome itself. Mosquitoes also played a role in steering slave ships from Africa across the Atlantic, because plantation owners in the Americas believed that Africans withstood the onslaught of mosquito-borne disease better than indigenous slaves or European indentured servants. Malaria, a parasitic disease, is the unsurpassed scourge of humankind. Dr. W. D. Tigertt, an early malariologist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said, “Malaria, like the weather, seems to have always been with the human race.” He continued, “And as Mark Twain said about the weather, it seems that very little is done about it.” Even today, more than 200 million unlucky people contract malaria each year.

Mosquitoes also transmit a catalog of viruses: dengue, West Nile, Zika and various encephalitides. While debilitating, these diseases are generally not prolific killers. Yellow fever, however, is the viral exception. It can produce fever-induced delirium, liver damage bleeding from the mouth, nose and eyes, and coma. Internal corrosion induces vomit of blood, the color of coffee grounds, giving rise to the Spanish name for yellow fever, vómito negro (black vomit), which is sometimes followed by death.

Today, roughly four billion people are at risk from mosquito-borne diseases. As our ancestors can attest, our battle with the mosquito has always been a matter of life and death, and it’s beginning to look as though this confrontation is coming to a head.

Michael Lopp's curator insight, July 28, 2019 8:20 PM

So I decided to share this because my fiance is allergic to mosquito and when she gets bit it turns into a softball size lump and looks very painful. So i have seen first hand what they can really do not to mention some of the disease they carry are very scary!!

West Nile Virus Spreads In Los Angeles

Mosquitoes, the Deadliest Hunters for Humans on the Planet - The New York Times