Frits Ahlefeldt, Hiking.org posted a photo:
Tree blocking path
Americans have shown broad and consistent support for expanded background checks for gun purchasers, but this has proven more contentious in practice than in principle. And the GOP holds a slight advantage over the Democratic Party in reflecting the public’s views about gun control.
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.
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.
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From ViralZone’s (http://bitly.com/1R9Isht,
SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics) excellent
Flaviviridae page at
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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]
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Aedes aegypti mosquito. One of the genus Aedes of
mosquitoes found to host ZIKV. Other mosquitoes
Image from CDC via Wikipedia.[9]
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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.
| 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]
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…
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.”
The United States has said that China’s recent test of a new runway on one of seven islands Beijing has constructed in the disputed South China Sea has increased tensions and threatened regional stability.
Beijing has once again aroused the ire of Vietnam, this time by landing a plane on a runway built on one of its artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago, in just the latest escalation in the all-out flame war that is the disputed South China Sea.
Description: vintage everyday: Ladies enjoying their swinging chairs on an Atlantic City beach, ca. 1905
By Ned Hamson
Pinned to Feminista on Pinterest
Found on: http://bitly.com/22HN564
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