#mosquito-borne

[there-goes-trouble]

"Massachusetts towns on alert over potentially deadly mosquito-borne virus. Ten Massachusetts counties are at high or critical risk from the mosquito-borne virus eastern equine encephalitis, a rare but potentially deadly virus, state health officials warn.

The big picture: There are currently no vaccines or medicines available to treat EEE, also known as "Triple E," which about 30% of people die from, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "[M]any survivors have ongoing neurologic problems," per an online CDC post. "

• Rebecca Falconer • (August 25, 2024) •

[cynicatalyst]

Imagine seasoned yautja hunters, absolute masters of their craft, still fucking struggling to smack the shit out of a fly or mosquito buzzing around them.

[bat-connoisseur]

People acting like animals should have a use or a purpose so that they have the right to continue existing is one of the most regressive and annoying things that I keep seeing fucking EVERYWHERE.

Animals should be allowed to live and are important for the simple fact that they are here and alive. You see it a lot with insects. Just because they are personally annoying to you doesn't mean they are less deserving of life. Everything interacts with everything else to keep the whole world ticking around, and it is not up to us to upset that. So what if mosquitoes annoy you. I don't give a shit. They shouldn't be blanket exterminated because of this. Not to mention the fact that they are important. They are pollinators, food for other animals, but even if they weren't, even if they just did nothing, that wouldn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to exist. What gives you the authority to decide that, huh? Why are you so special?

This goes for humans too, by the way. Why must a person contribute or work or whatever to be worthy of being loved and supported? They're alive, and therefore have inherent value. If you think that isn't enough, then you are the problem. Have some god damn compassion, or failing that, just keep quiet.

[rjzimmerman]

Anthony Fauci: A Mosquito in My Backyard Made Me the Sickest I’ve Ever Been. (New York Times)

Excerpt from this New York Times Op-Ed by Anthony Fauci:

There is no treatment for West Nile virus disease, and I was left to deal with its toll on my body. It was terrifying. I could not swing my legs over the side of the bed to sit up without help from my wife and three daughters. I could not stand up without assistance and certainly could not walk. A very scary part of the ordeal was the effect on my cognition. I was disoriented, unable to remember certain words, asking questions of my family that I should have known the answers to. I was afraid that I would never recover and return to normal.

Fortunately, over a period of a few weeks slow improvement began. I was able to walk with a walker and then without any assistance. Now I can walk a few miles per day with only minimal fatigue, and my cognitive issues have completely resolved. I am on my way to a total recovery, but it has been a harrowing experience.

I tell my story because West Nile virus is a disease that, for many people, can have devastating and permanent consequences. At my age of 83, I was at risk of permanent neurological impairment and even death. Yet the public may be unaware of the danger of this disease and that it continues to spread across the United States; it has been identified in 46 states this year. Unfortunately, very little is being done about it from scientific and public awareness perspectives.

West Nile virus belongs to the family of flaviviruses that also includes yellow fever and dengue viruses. It was first detected in the United States in the New York City area in 1999, most likely introduced from the Middle East or parts of Africa where it is prevalent. Mosquitoes get the virus from infected birds, and then pass the virus on to humans by a bite. West Nile virus infection is by far the most common mosquito-borne disease in the United States: Since 1999, about 60,000 cases have been reported. The actual number of infections is surely higher, no doubt in the millions, since many cases are not reported because infections are often asymptomatic or are confused with other common maladies such as flu. Among the reported cases in the United States, more than 30,000 have had neurological symptoms like mine, resulting in about 23,000 hospitalizations and close to 3,000 deaths.

As climate change makes it easier for mosquitoes to proliferate in many places, West Nile virus disease as well as other mosquito-borne illnesses are emerging as greater threats in this country and elsewhere. Yet, efforts to develop a vaccine or treatment for this illness are modest compared with those for other diseases of public health importance.

So, how do we address this emerging public health threat? Vaccine development must go forward; however, to be successful, clinical trials must be international and include countries with a consistent and large number of cases each year. The pathway to a vaccine cannot be in the United States alone. Global public-private partnerships between the N.I.H. and the drug industry have historically proved successful in the development of a number of important vaccines such as those against hepatitis B and Covid. There is no reason this shouldn’t also be the case for a West Nile virus vaccine.

The same holds true for the development of antiviral drugs. There is no insurmountable scientific obstacle to developing safe and effective antiviral drugs for West Nile virus infection. The pharmaceutical industry in collaboration with the N.I.H. and other partners had remarkable success in developing effective drugs for other emerging viral infections. Examples include lifesaving drugs for H.I.V. infection, therapies for hepatitis C infection and useful drugs for Covid-19 and influenza. With international research partnerships and political will spurred by an engaged activist community such as we have seen with H.I.V. and now long Covid, West Nile virus treatments and prevention tools should be within our grasp.

[petewentzisblack1312]

i need to [remembers that all creatures have an important place in the ecosystem] kill every mosquito

[valinoar]

people wondering why alicent is looking so terrified in the posters hm it’s almost as if she’s seen horrors so debilitating they can’t even be conceptualised by the human brain

[bookwyrminspiration]

my dad and I just spent like half an hour scouring every medical record in the house to try and figure out my blood type and have come to the conclusion maybe I don’t actually have blood

[fallenclan]

Please tell me Lee will live past 200 moons?🦟

we shall see i suppose :)

[whataboutfractions]

my only qualm with this:

[magrittr]

Not a big fan of opening the daily global infectious disease alerts and seeing a virus name I’ve never seen before…

[cringelordofchaos]

"OMG! Did you know that pigs would easily eat a human? How scandalous! Outrageous! Disgusting! Pure proof of their immorality!"

- average Jessica, who eats porkchop with their family once a month

[kiwisoap]

I usually feed Odyssey in the evenings (just cus that's how my schedule usually shakes out) and when I drop his food in, he ALWAYS slams it full force like he has to kill it. Anyway I fed him later than usual a couple nights ago and when I dropped the food in he didn't hop off his perch to get it. And I was IMMEDIATELY like "oh no he's sick, he's dying, this is a Symptom, my BOY,," (bc illness symptoms in raptors are often rapid-onset)

But he finally (carefully) hopped to the ground from his perch and walked over to the food and I realized that it was just slightly too dark outside for him and he was uncomfortable flying. Lmao

[winter-jay-official]

Being mad about being southern and queer i love houston!!! I do!!!! Theres culture and so many great amazing people its my home !!!! And its also just quickly becoming actually unsafe to live in texas its hard with rising temperatures and laws being instated

[flightless-kiwibird]

Vampires but they’re based off mosquitoes?? I’m not really sure about the logistics of this so please don’t ask me to elaborate

[thoughtlessarse]

Mosquito-borne diseases are spreading across the globe, and particularly in Europe, due to climate breakdown, an expert has said. The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in. Prof Rachel Lowe who leads the global health resilience group at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain, has warned that mosquito-borne disease outbreaks are set to spread across currently unaffected parts of northern Europe, Asia, North America and Australia over the next few decades. She is due to give a presentation at the global congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona to warn that the world must be prepared for a sharp uptick in these diseases. “Global warming due to climate change means that the disease vectors that carry and spread malaria and dengue [fever] can find a home in more regions, with outbreaks occurring in areas where people are likely to be immunologically naive and public health systems unprepared,” Lowe said.

continue reading

Watch how quickly a decent malaria vaccine is developed.

[miragemirrors]

unlimited destruction on mosquito da dengue