Category Archives: Viva!

New York City Council Member Shuts Down Victim Blaming in Two Minutes Flat

Cumbo — without missing a beat — explained:That’s typical of just what I spoke about: that individuals often talk about the woman, they rarely talk about the individuals who actually committed the rape. Those are the individuals that need to be focused on right now [….] We shouldn’t talk about whether she was drunk, we shouldn’t talk about whether she was properly dressed, we shouldn’t talk about the time of evening that it happened. That is too typical of how we discuss rape in the city, the nation, and really the world. We need to focus in this situation on those five individuals that committed this heinous crime and what were the bad decisions that they made all throughout the day.Cumbo goes on to speak eloquently about the systematic neglect and marginalization that Black folks — particularly Black women — suffer, and concludes with an affirmation that “whether you are on the Upper East Side or in Brownsville, all women matter, and we’re here to make sure that message is sent loud and clear.”

Source: New York City Council Member Shuts Down Victim Blaming in Two Minutes Flat

Multidrug-resistant bacteria in unaccompanied refugee minors arriving in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, October to November 2015

Many refugees arriving in Germany originate or have travelled through countries with high prevalence of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative organisms. Therefore, all unaccompanied refugee minors (<18 years-old) arriving in Frankfurt am Main between 12 October and 6 November 2015, were screened for multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in stool samples. Enterobacteriaceae with extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) were detected in 42 of 119 (35%) individuals, including nine with additional resistance to fluoroquinolones (8% of total screened), thus exceeding the prevalences in the German population by far.

Arboviruses: (Already) Coming To America

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Regions Where Aedes Mosquitoes Are Endemic

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The news this week that an imported case of Zika arrived in Harris County, Tx is only the latest in a steady stream of arbovirus infected travelers who arrive in the United States pretty much on a daily basis.  Zika is a new threat, but for years we’ve had imported cases of Dengue, Malaria, and more recently – Chikungunya – to deal with. 

In 2009, Dengue fever returned to Florida after six decades without a locally acquired case (see MMWR: Dengue Fever In Key West), and since that time we’ve seen sporadic outbreaks in South Florida, Texas, and most recently Hawaii. 

That MMWR report described Florida’s vulnerability to Dengue as follows:

The environmental and social conditions for dengue transmission have long been present in south Florida: the potential for introduction of virus from returning travelers and visitors, the abundant presence of a competent mosquito vector, a largely nonimmune population, and sufficient opportunity for mosquitoes to bite humans.

The same mosquito vectors (Aedes) that transmit Dengue also can transmit Chikungunya, (and Zika) and so this assessment is likely valid for all three arboviruses. In late 2013, soon after Chikungunya began to spread rapidly across the Caribbean, the CDC issued a HAN Advisory On Recognizing & Treating Chikungunya Infection for clinicians in the United States. 

True to form, in 2014 Florida reported 459 International Travel-Associated Chikungunya Fever Cases and 11 cases of locally acquired CHKV (cite Fl. DOH).  Nationally, in 2014, the United States reported roughly 2,800 imported cases. 

We got lucky in that CHKV failed to establish a foothold that year, but past failures are no guarantee that our luck will hold forever. Now, CHKV and Dengue are joined by a new threat – Zika – and 2016 could be a very challenging year for mosquito control in Florida, and across the country.

The State of Florida published it’s 2015 Arbovirus re-cap last week, and it it we find that more than 200 international travelers with either Dengue (83 cases), Chikungunya (73 cases), or Malaria (53 cases) were reported to the Health Department last year. 

As 80% of Dengue and Chikungunya cases are believed asymptomatic (or produce only mild symptoms), one can assume these reported cases are only subset of the total. 

Each one of these infected travelers has the potential to provide a blood meal to an Aedes mosquito, who could then spread the virus (or an Anopheles mosquitos with the malaria parasite) to others. Granted, unless conditions are ideal, it may take many repeated introductions of these diseases over years  before one becomes established in the United States.

But as we saw with West Nile Virus, which only arrived in 1999, it can happen much quicker than we ever imagined.   In 2015 WNV killed at least 119 Americans.

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2015 Neuroinvasive WNV

WNV has an advantage in that it has a sylvatic cycle (birds to mosquitoes). Human infection is basically a result of incidental collateral damage (see graphic below).  

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Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya – at least outside of Africa and Asia – have no known non-human animal reservoirs, which means they have a harder time becoming endemic. But when enough people become infected, these viruses are sometimes able to sustain themselves in an Urban Cycle, where transmission is strictly human-to-mosquito-to human.

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The conventional wisdom, however, says that (at least in colder climes), the virus must be reintroduced each year as infected mosquitoes die off during the winter.

Possibly throwing a wrench into that idea is a recent study (Feb 2015) suggesting that some mosquitoes may be capable of vertical transmission of some arboviruses (see  Natural transovarial transmission of dengue virus 4 in Aedes aegypti from Cuiabá, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil), allowing new generations of mosquitoes to be born already carrying the disease.  The authors write:

The findings reported in this study demonstrate that natural transovarial infection by DENV-4 is occurring in Ae. Aegypti in Cuiabá with a relatively high MIR index, which favors the birth of mosquitoes already infected with DENV at the beginning of epidemics. This mechanism may be responsible for virus maintenance during interepidemic periods, especially in critical areas with elevated mosquito density and human disease incidence.

There are a lot of factors at work – a lot of unknowns – but the upshot of all of this is that Zika, Chikungunya, and Dengue all have at least some potential to spark (likely regional, and limited) epidemics in the contiguous United States.

Maybe not this year, or next, but the requisite ingredients are all here.

A continual and growing influx of infected travelers and a competent mosquito vector. Just add in the right weather conditions, and a tightly packed urban population – and you have a recipe for an outbreak.

And it isn’t just the United States at risk. 

Europe, Australia, and Japan have all reported arbovirus outbreaks in regions that haven’t reported mosquito borne diseases for decades. A few months ago, in ECDC Vector Maps: Invasive Ticks, Mosquitoes & Sand Flies we looked at numerous places in Europe where these diseases might become established once again.

While the United States and Europe have waged very successful wars against mosquitoes over the past 70 years, many of our mosquito control tools are starting to lose effectiveness around the world.

The WHO warns:

Insecticide resistance already widespread

Resistance is known to affect all major malaria vector species and all four recommended classes of insecticides. Since 2010, a total of 60 countries have reported resistance to at least one class of insecticide, with a total of 49 of those countries reporting resistance to two or more classes. However, our understanding of the extent of the problem is incomplete, because:

  • many countries do not carry out adequate routine monitoring for insecticide resistance in local vectors; and
  • monitoring data are often not reported in a timely manner.

A 2014 PLoS One Study Insecticide Resistance Status of United States Populations of Aedes albopictus and Mechanisms Involved noted some pockets of mosquitoes resistant to DDT and malathion in both Florida and New Jersey.  They wrote:

This study showed standard larvicides and pyrethroids used for mosquito control are still effective against USA populations of Ae. albopictus, but it also demonstrates the importance of research on insecticide resistance and the constant need to develop new tools, new insecticides, and innovative strategies to prevent the development of insecticide resistance in these critical vectors of human diseases. 


And in 2010, in From the `Nature Bats Last’ Dept we looked at reports that one of our most effective mosquito repellents – DEET, or N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide  (a name that, for some reason, never really caught on with the public) – may be losing some effectiveness.  A story I followed up with in 2013 with PLoS One: Mosquitoes Less Deterred By DEET After Previous Exposure. 


All signs that  – with a growing array of mosquito-borne threats in the wings – we can’t afford to take the mosquito threat lightly anymore.  Not even in places that have been considered `safe’ from these types of diseases for decades.


Sweden demands investigation of Israeli extrajudicial killings of Palestinians

PNN/ Bethlehem/

The Swedish government on Tuesday demanded a thorough and reliable investigation into the Israeli killings of Palestinians, and whether they are “extra-judicial executions.”

The Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström, required examination of whether the killings that have taken place in the recent months of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians were extra-judicial and without trial.

“It is important to have thorough credible investigations into these deaths, in order to clarify and establish responsibility,” said Margot Wallström during a parliamentary debate according to Swedish news agency TT.

Leader of the Liberalernas Swedish party, Jan Björklund, said that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, also claimed that the killings were extrajudicial and unaccounted.

“In the context of suspected attacks, several Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces, sometimes allegedly acting with disproportionate force, to the extent that extra-judicial killings are strongly suspected,” he continued at the special meeting convened on the occasion of the Palestinian President’s visit in October last year

Wallstrom’s comments were denounced Tuesday by former Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, as well as opposition leader Isaac Herzog and Chief negotiator Tzipi Livni.

Liberman wrote on Twitter that “The only thing the foreign minister of Sweden hasn’t done is physically join the Palestinian terrorists and stab Jews.”

“Given her conduct so far, we need to hope it won’t happen,” Liberman added.

According to the Times of Israel, Livni, meanwhile, urged Sweden to avoid “meddling” in internal Israeli affairs.

Relations between Sweden and Israel have worsened after Sweden in 2014 – shortly after Wallström came into office – recognized Palestine as an independent state, and blasted continuous Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

Following the Paris attacks on 17 November, the Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström  had made a connection between the ISIS extremism and the Israeli Occupation, causing feud between the two governments, that the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned its Swedish envoy.

In an interview with Swedish TV channel following the Paris attack, Wallström said she is concerned that Swedish youth will be radicalized to fight for the so called Islamic State group (Daesh), and that the situation reminds her of Palestinians who resort to violence because they see no future for themselves.

Since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against occupation on October first, some 155 Palestinians, including 28 children and seven women, have been killed. On the Israeli side, some 21 settlers were killed in stabbing or run-over operatives, or mistaken Israeli fire.