Category Archives: Viva!

innovation-roadblock-fallen-tree-color-illustration-by-frits-ahlefeldt

Frits Ahlefeldt, Hiking.org posted a photo:

innovation-roadblock-fallen-tree-color-illustration-by-frits-ahlefeldt

Tree blocking path

The retelling

Sometimes people understand it all wrong, and think that the story is really theirs to tell, when it isn’t. Some stories make for great anecdotes, but many just make for outright gossip. I’ve heard many stories of myself over the past few years,  and most of the time they just crack me up. While we all have some level of gossip about us, it is never good to spread the gossip. I’m a firm believer of the need to know rule. I really just dislike when people say they are open books, but really they plagiarize the chapters of their said book, so really they only tell the story of others and rarely allow themselves to be open.


People find it strange that I’m as honest as I say I am, they are shocked to see that I’m as true as I say I am, that being said, I’m not completely 100% transparent. I do reserve some of myself to be a discovery, there is no fun if there is no pursuit and if you’d like to get to know me, the fun is in the conversations. I am a fan of the story to be told, everyone is interesting, just that not many people realize how interesting they are. 

I’m actually a Medical Interpreter as my profession, being an interpreter, I am fortunate enough to come across stories daily that really evolve my view on life. How fortunate am I to work in a job setting where I not only hear stories, but also get to hear more about cultural uses of the languages I interpret? I honestly have a really huge interest in cultural usage of certain languages, as opposed to the prescribed usage or even standard usages. Somehow I’ve landed my dream position 🙂 and it’s very emotional in both good and bad ways. The end result though is very gratifying, I like to imagine that I’ve made the experience for the patients much more pleasurable. 

Zika virus briefly…

Update . 05JAN2016 2030 AEST

Zika (pronounced [zēk′ ə; 1] or zeek-a) virus has been in the news in recent months as it has seemingly spread very quickly from country to country, seemingly at the same time as a rise in cases of an otherwise rare human disease, microcephaly. 

The virus was first grown in the laboratory from samples from a naturally infected sentinel rhesus macaque (monkey) which were placed in cages on variously elevated platforms in the Zika (“overgrown”) forest in Uganda in 1947.[1] The virus was not descried in the literature until 1952 although many others from the discoveries in this region were.[1,14]

I’m new to Zika virus and the study of its spread and disease so I’m on a mission to read up on it. I like to start from the beginning thus I have some of the earliest papers and will gradually read them and share with you any summaries I write up. For now, a general overview of some key bits.

Zika virus causes Zika virus disease (ZVD) or Zika fever – it’s that virus versus disease thing that we have for almost all infectious diseases. Zika virus is often abbreviated to ZIKV.

Flaviviridae_virion_exViralZone_05JAN201
From ViralZone’s (http://bitly.com/1R9Isht,
SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics) excellent

Flaviviridae page at 


ZIKV is a mosquito-borne virus that has an RNA genome (positive sense) and is enveloped by a lipid membrane (with exposed viral bits embedded-see adjacent image) surrounding an icosahedral capsid. Inside the capsid is the genome. This is the same basic structure as that found among other viruses of the family Flaviviridae of which ZIKV is a member; it falls into the genus Flavivirus of the family Flaviviridae to me a bit more precise.

ZIKV replicates in the infected host cell’s cytoplasm and first makes a single protein (a polyprotein) which is subsequently cleaved up into different functional peptides.[5,8]

Aedes_aegypti_CDC-Gathany.jpg
Aedes aegypti mosquito. One of the genus Aedes of 
mosquitoes found to host ZIKV. Other mosquitoes 

Image from CDC via Wikipedia.[9]

Some flaviviruses are borne to us (and other animals) by other arthropods – ticks apart from mosquitoes – infecting us via a virus-laden puncture/bite/injection during which virus is introduced. These viruses are all lumped together under the umbrella term of arthropod-borne viruses or arboviruses

Arboviruses replicate (grow) within the cells of the particular arthropod host, where they are amplified to higher viral loads; for example cells lining the mosquito gut in the case of Dengue virus.[10,11] Some human and animal hosts, as far as we know, cannot amplify the virus enough for it to be sucked back out by and infect the next arthropod that might come along and feed on us – these are called incidental or “dead-end” hosts.[4]

Some flaviviruses have not yet been linked to an insect host. Wikipedia maintains a great long list of flaviviruses, arthropod hosts and their mammalian and avian incidental hosts, as well as those viruses not yet linked to a human or other animal hosts.[4]

Other flaviviruses (members of that genus) you may have heard of include Yellow fever virus (YFV; the prototype virus and from where “flavi”, which derives from flavus, meaning yellow/blond/golden in Latin, comes from), Dengue virus (DENV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), West Nile virus (WNV), St. louis encephalitis virus and Murray valley encephalitis virus (MVEV). But there are 53 species listed in the genus by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) as of 2014 – many of which you won’t have heard anything about.[3]

Generally, ZIKV causes a relatively mild illness in a proportion of those infected.[13] Signs and symptoms can include fever, rash, joint (arthralgia) and muscle (myalgia) pain, conjunctivitis, headache and jaundice but with its recent rapid spread – or more rigorous detection – a link is being investigated to a parallel rise in cases of a rare disease, detected at birth or thereafter, called microcephaly. This has been reported in some countries with ZIKV cases, but not from all. At least to date that has been the case – it may change with the new attention this disease and this virus have now attracted. 

2015-cha-autoch-human-cases-zika-virus-e
Countries and territories with autochthonous transmission.
Epidemiological Week 51 – 2015. PAHO & WHO.[23]


Microcephaly manifests, as the name suggests, as markedly smaller than normal head size and is linked to reduced brain growth in utero or brain development after birth.[6] While a link between microcephaly and viruses is not new, a link (statistical, supported with data) has yet to be found to ZIKV infection.[7] That is not to say a link will not be found, but it is awaiting the required studies. Three instances report ZIKV in amniotic fluid or in newborn tissues and one case of sexual transmission tentatively described.[19,21] Thousands of ZVD cases have reportedly been accruing on a weekly basis in Colombia alone which found its first local (autochthonous) transmission October 2015.[20] The first autochthonous reports of ZIKV infection in the Americas were confirmed in February 2014 on Easter Island, Chile.[22] In May 2015, Brazil reported discovery of its first autochthonous cases and November 2015 saw the first autochthonous circulation reports by El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela.[22]

Laboratory confirmation of a suspected or probable case can be by detection of ZIKV RNA using RT-PCR in samples from an acutely infected case and by the finding of IgM antibodies 5 or more days after illness onset.[12,13] ZIKV antibody studies must be considered alongside studies of other flaviviruses which may cross-react or non-specifically flare up during infection by another related, or unrelated, virus.[14,15,16,17] The time during which virus remains in the blood may only be 3 to 5 days.[13]

But other infections can look just like ZVD including:[12]

  • dengue viruses
  • leptospirosis
  • malaria
  • rickettsia
  • group A streptococcus
  • rubella virus
  • measles virus
  • parvovirus
  • enterovirus
  • adenovirus
  • Chikungunya virus
  • Mayaro virus
  • Ross River virus
  • Barmah Forest virus
  • O’nyong-nyong
  • Sindbis viruses

So you can see that a lot of work, time and money is required for a lab asked to confirm the disease, rather than a specific viral infection.

No specific antiviral or vaccine exists for ZIKV infection – or most other viral infections.

References…

  1. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20/6/et-2006_article
  2. http://bitly.com/1TCMFb1
  3. http://bitly.com/1R9IsxS
  4. http://bitly.com/1TCMInb
  5. http://stanford.io/1R9IsxW
  6. http://mayocl.in/1TCMInc
  7. http://on.bchil.org/1R9IuWu
  8. http://bitly.com/1TCMIne
  9. http://bitly.com/1R9IsxY
  10. http://bitly.com/1TCMIng
  11. http://bitly.com/1R9IsOc
  12. http://1.usa.gov/1TCMIni
  13. http://bitly.com/1R9IsOe
  14. http://1.usa.gov/1TCMFrv
  15. http://1.usa.gov/1R9IsOf
  16. http://bitly.com/1TCMInm
  17. http://bitly.com/1R9IsOh
  18. Zika virus. I. Isolations and serological specificity.
    DICK GW, KITCHEN SF, HADDOW AJ.
    Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1952 Sep;46(5):509-20.
    http://1.usa.gov/1TCMInq
  19. http://onforb.es/1R9IsOj
  20. http://bitly.com/1TCMFrE
  21. http://1.usa.gov/1R9IuWy
  22. http://bitly.com/1TCMFrF
  23. http://bitly.com/1TCMIDM
Updates…
  1. Grammatical refernce and additional location details
© 2013-2015 Ian M. Mackay. PhD. This content was originally published at http://bitly.com/1Kas2vY 9920132014201599

Obama Administration Must End Raids on Homes of Central American Immigrants NOW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sunday, January 3, 2016
CONTACT: Carlos Vogel, (202) 239-2133, cvogel@communitychange.org

Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) Denounces Raids

(WASHINGTON)—The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) is appalled, outraged and heartbroken that President Obama has put in place his administration’s plan to raid the homes of Central American immigrants targeted for deportation.

FIRM has received confirmed reports that women and children were taken from their homes in Georgia and Maryland and placed in detention centers on Saturday.

“FIRM demands that President Obama, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and ICE Director Sarah Saldana immediately put an end to this reported plan to raid people’s homes, terrorize families and rip them apart,” said FIRM spokesperson Kica Matos. “If these families are deported —  and most of them would be women and children, they would be returned to places they fled to escape being killed, raped or tortured.”

“These families came to the United States seeking refuge and better lives, like countless millions of other immigrants. That is what has made America the great country that it is. Rounding up these families to deport them back to a region marked by extreme violence is inhumane,” Matos added.

“FIRM will do everything in its power to stop this reported plan from being implemented. We cannot and we will not remain silent when our families are living in fear of being separated and sent back to face possible harm, including death,” Matos said. “President Obama, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and ICE Director Sarah Saldana betrayal of the Latino and immigrant communities is one that will mark his legacy and that of this administration.”