Mash-Up Monday: Zika Style?

Following on from this morning's post about the Zika Virus, can you guess this week's Mash-up Monday?

- K I A Z

Too easy?

- P A T E N C H E L I S I

-  N A D G U A

-  S I T M O O Q U

- R I V U S

- Geeker

What is the Zika Virus?

Today, we'll answer some very important questions:

What is the Zika Virus?

How is it spread?

What are the symptoms?

Are there vaccines available?

 

www.thehairsociety.org

 The word "Zika" comes comes from the "Zika Forest in Uganda" where in 1947, it was first isolated!

"Zika virus is related to dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses" [Jgid.org]

http://www.frostillustrated.com

So, how is it spread?

It's actually spread by daytime Aedes Mosquitoes!

https://upload.wikimedia.org

Expanding on what I previously said, it was first documented to be found in Uganda - on monkeys, but then, in 1960 the first human case was found in Nigeria!

www.storybench.org

It can also be transferred from:

• Sexually active men to their partners
• Pregnant women to the foetus 
• Through blood transfusion

Did you know:

• Zika replicates in the mosquito's midgut epithelial cells and then its salivary gland cells. 
• After 5–10 days, ZIKV can be found in the mosquito’s saliva, which can then infect humans. 
• If the mosquito’s saliva is inoculated into human skin, the virus can infect epidermal keratinocytes, skin fibroblasts in the skin and the Langerhans cells. 
• The pathogenesis of the virus is hypothesized to continue with a spread to lymph nodes and the bloodstream.^{[Field's Virology Book][Journal of Infection]} 
• Flaviviruses generally replicate in the cytoplasm, but Zika antigens have been found in infected cell nuclei.^{[Microbiology Research]}

 Symptoms?

If you can't read that, it says: fever, pale, skin rash, muscle pain, arthralgia, headache, diarrhoea, and red eyes!

Here's an example of the Zika Virus Rash:

It's also known to cause microcephaly:

"A baby with microcephaly (left) compared to a baby with a typical head size" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcephaly

Vaccines?

 As of March 2016, 18 companies and institutions internationally were developing vaccines against Zika, but none had yet reached clinical trials.^{[WHO Report]}

But, within the rest of the flaviviridae family, there are several vaccines availible. Have you ever been vaccinated for yellow fever? That's one of them!

It's been reported that WHO experts believe priority should be placed on "pregnant women and those of childbearing age"^{[WHO Report]}

So, here's a summary and some information on how to prevent it!

Click here for an enlarged view!

- Geeker

Secret Sunday: What's Happening With the Zika Virus?

 Secret Sunday's back...

Hmm... secrets, eh?

Can anyone guess what this week's image is of:

Plus, have you heard the recent news about the Zika Virus?

It's been reported that there's been a huge increase in the number of abortions that are being wanted by Latin American women

"More than 1,500 babies have been diagnosed with microcephaly caused by the virus"

Here's the report for abortions, given by the BBC

	Expected	Actual	Increase
Brazil	582	1210	+108%
Colombia	102	141	+39%
Costa Rica	49	67	+36%
El Salvador	18	24	+36%
Ecuador	34	71	+108%
Honduras	21	36	+76%
Venezuela	45	86	+93%

 More information on the Zika virus is coming soon... so stay tuned!


Read more here, for now!: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36595448

Abortion demand 'soars' over Zika https://t.co/iKTZUblRag pic.twitter.com/aLWJ4yC5Bs

— BBC Science (@BBCScienceClub) June 23, 2016

- Geeker