#there's also Zika

[danithefangirlbunny]

a very tell tale sign I'm from the global south is that I call the mosquito that transmits Dengue fever by his scientific name

[petewentzisblack1312]

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

[hkayakh]

15

If you stayed the age of your birth DAY forever, how old you would be?

[reasonsforhope]

Pairing frogs and toads together might conjure memories of Arnold Lobel’s beloved characters — dressed to the nines in caramel coats and polyester — biking off toward adventure. 

But in the animal world, frogs and toads on nearly every continent are facing a much more harrowing adventure: a decades-long fight against a mysterious fungal virus that has afflicted over 500 amphibian species. 

Since the 1990s, scientists estimate that the chytridiomycosis disease caused by the fungal pathogen Bd (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) has led to the extinction of 90 amphibians. One of the lost species includes the Panamanian golden frog, which hasn’t been spotted in the wild since 2009. 

Fortunately, a new research study has finally pinpointed the virus that has been infecting fungal genomes for decades. 

“Bd is a generalist pathogen and is associated with the decline of over 500 amphibian species…here, we describe the discovery of a novel DNA mycovirus of Bd,” wrote Mark Yacoub — the lead author of the study and a microbiology doctoral student at the University of California, Riverside. 

In an interview with UC Riverside News, Yacoub said that he and microbiology professor Jason Stajich observed the viral genome while studying the broader population genetics of mycovirus (viruses of fungi). 

The discovery will undoubtedly have monumental impacts on future amphibian conservation efforts. This includes the possible launching of new research studies into fungal species strains, the practice of cloning and observing spores, and engineering a solution to the virus. 

But Yacoub cautioned that this is only the beginning. 

“We don’t know how the virus infects the fungus, how it gets into the cells,” Yacoub said. “If we’re going to engineer the virus to help amphibians, we need answers to questions like these.”

Still, as scientists strengthen conservation efforts to save frogs and toads (and salamanders too!) they also appear to be saving themselves. Yacoub pointed out several amphibian species around the world have begun exhibiting resistance to Bd. 

“Like with COVID, there is a slow buildup of immunity,” Yacoub explained. “We are hoping to assist nature in taking its course.”

Pictured: A Golden poison frog — one of the many species endangered by chytridiomycosis — in captivity.

Why are frogs and toads so important?

From the get go, every amphibian species plays an important role in their local ecosystem. Not only are they prey for a slew of animals like lizards, snakes, otters, birds, and more, but in an eat-or-be-eaten world, frogs and toads benefit the food chain by doing both. 

Even freshly hatched tadpoles — no bigger than a button — can reduce contamination in their surrounding pond water by nibbling on algae blooms. 

As they grow bigger (and leggier), amphibians snack on whatever insect comes their way, greatly reducing the population of harmful pests and making a considerable dent in the transmission malaria, dengue, and Zika fever by eating mosquito larvae. 

“Frogs control bad insects, crop pests, and mosquitoes,” Yacoub said. “If their populations all over the world collapse, it could be devastating.” 

Yacoub also pointed out that amphibians are the “canary in the coal mine of climate change,” because they are an indicator species. Frogs and toads have permeable skin, making them sensitive to changes in their environment, and they also rely on freshwater. 

When amphibians vanish from an ecosystem, it’s a symptom of greater environmental issues...

Herpetologist Maureen Donnelly echoed Yacoub’s sentiments in an interview with Phys Org, noting that when it comes to food chains, biodiversity, and environmental impact, the role of frogs and toads should not be overlooked. 

“Conservation must be a global team effort,” Donnelly said. “We are the stewards of the planet and are responsible for all living creatures.”

-via GoodGoodGood, April 22, 2024

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

Iconic things brazilians did during the Olympics so far, from the top of my head:

During the 2024 opening ceremony we were one of the few countries that had a boat all for themselves;

Brazilians in Paris dancing and singing "HOJE PARIS VAI VIRAR BAILE" ("today Paris will be a party");

Once again, brazilians dancing and singing to funk music in Paris the exact same way we do over here;

A brazilian teen was giving an interview, and while at it, mentioned the Israel soccer team. Two pro-Israel people from behind him started telling him to "stop talking about politics", when all the kid was saying was that the Israel team did well during the beginning. Kid then started shouting "FREE PALESTINE" while jumping and celebrating;

During street skate, brazilians were cheering for the girls to fall off their skates, shouting "CAI, CAI, CAI" ("fall, fall, fall"). Rayssa Leal, the brazilian skatist, ended up with a bronze medal;

I didn't follow the 2020 Olympics but this is the second Olympics in a row that we brazilians all agree failed to deliver a good opening ceremony like we did;

Brazilians in the 2016 Olympics started cheering for the judge/referee during a boxing match between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Why? Because the guy was the single brazilian out there. Anything he did made people start cheering for him ("JUIZ, JUIZ, JUIZ");

Brazilians shouting "LET'S GO, POKEMON" during the 2016 Olympics as a way for cheering for Japan during their soccer match against Sweden;

Once again during 2016 because I don't remember anything from the 2020 Olympics: Brazilians shouting "ZIKA VÍRUS", "DENGUE" and "CHIKUNGUNYA", three illnesses transmited by a single mosquito, at a soccer player who made a joke about protecting herself from mosquitoes, fearing she would get sick. The joke was not received well, as you could have imagined.

Anyways, please feel free to add things brazilians did during the Olympics. If you are not from the Global North also feel free to add stuff your own country did, and don't forget to cheer for the palestinian athletes!

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Covid is "totally not a pandemic," but HHS has put it on the same level as Zika, Anthrax, nerve agents, and Ebola. Strange.

US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra today signed the 12th amendment to the declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act (PREP) Act for COVID-19 countermeasures, a step that provides liability immunity through December 31, 2029.

The declaration provides immunity, except for willful misconduct, for certain claims, including loss caused by or related to administration or use of countermeasures to diseases, threats, or conditions, according to information from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which is part of HHS.

Present or credible risk The immunity applies to situations deemed by the HHS secretary as a present or credible risk of a future public health emergency. It also applies to groups or individuals involved in development, production, testing, distribution, and administration of countermeasures.

The PREP Act was enacted in 2005 to help protect pharmaceutical companies from financial risk in the event of a declared public health emergency. The act also provides funding for pandemic influenza preparedness. ASPR notes that the PREP Act declaration is different from and not dependent on other emergency declarations.

Similar PREP Act declarations are currently in effect for countermeasures against a range of other biological or chemical threats, including mpox and other orthopox viruses, viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, nerve agents and insecticides, Zika virus, pandemic flu, anthrax, acute radiation syndrome, and botulinum toxin.

[biblicallyaccuratemoth]

Hey, can you talk about your disease plushies more?

It may seem a little silly, but I'm quite interested!

Not silly at all!

I collect plushies as a hobby, and some of my favorites I collect are plushies that are modeled after diseases and pathogens. So far I own HIV, Covid, Ebola, and Smallpox. I try to order one every few paychecks to keep it going? Next I’ve had my eye on a Mosquito-plushie that comes with a little Zika, Malaria, Dengue, and West Nile hanging off it. I also really want the Rabies plushie, and Yersinia Pestis is high on the order list too. For the latter when I have friends over I intend to hand it to them randomly and yell, “Get plague’d.”

[bpod-bpod]

Love is Deaf

From birdsong to love songs, sound can play an important role in any romance. In some species removing that ingredient can even stop a relationship in its tracks, according to researchers investigating the impact of deafness in mating of disease-carrying mosquitoes. A study examined neurons (brain cells) that express a particular gene essential for hearing in the dengue- and zika-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito. The neurons (shown in green) protrude into the brain's auditory centre (pictured), and help transmit sound-induced movement from the antenna. When the gene was silenced, rendering the mosquitoes deaf, males were unable to mate at all, failing to modulate their patterns of wingbeats in sync with females as they normally would during mating. Hearing is therefore not just important, but essential, to mosquito reproduction, which could present a new route to population management and attempts to slow the spread of deadly diseases.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Yijin Wang, Dhananjay Thakur and Emma Duge, and colleagues

Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and the Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), November 2024

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[queerbaitingbutikissgirls]

Part 1

Sevika x reader

Synopsis: A lot of world building and a sprinkle of Sevika.

Note: I actually wrote the beginning in Tumblr and it got erased so the beginning is just some context cause I'm not rewriting it all lmao.

•You just got accepted for a job as a new healer for silco's crew.

•Your best friend Zika take you out to the last drop to have a drink and celebrate your new job.

•The last drop being a part of silco's empire you come across a few member of his gang coming in to blow some steam after their shift, sevika is one of them.

• You look at them pass to go to their usual boot as they ignore everyone around them and then your best friend start to talk about how you're gonna be so cool and part of their crew now.

• The rest of the night go without anything eventful and you go home at a decent hour knowing you are starting your first day of work tomorrow.

•You walk up to silco's tower ready for your first day at this job that might change your life.

I looked up at the sun grazing the highest peak of the tower. A rare sight in Zaun, the sun. I turned around quickly as I heard footsteps behind me as I looked down I saw a strangely proper man making his way towards me. He had an uncommonly warm smile on his lips. "You must be the new healer!" He said his smile growing even bigger. I tried to find a drop of malice or mischief behind is gaze but the only thing I found was a glimpse of excitement. he held his hand in front of me waiting for me to take it which I did weirdly he didn't instored fear in me.

"Yes, and you are...?" I asked with a confused smile. "Darius! I'm the chief doctor of silco's clinic." He said before dropping the handshake. Oh a doctor I didn't even knew it existed in Zaun, I didn't knew people like him existed in Zaun he looked like a living puppy way too happy to be living in the trenches in my humble opinion. He insisted on guiding me to the clinic and I just followed way too confused to even object.

"So this is the main clinic, here is my operation office  and this is the... break room?" He whispered in a questioning tone. "Don't tell silco's that we call it like that we aren't supposed to take breaks on working hours." He said again in a low tone. I barely conciled a smile at his carefree attitude he seemed way too happy about everything which was a bit unsettling down here. "Okay!" He said sitting back at a desk. "I red your resume, you're good! You'll be a great asset to have in the healer department." A small blush crept on my cheeks I wasn't used to praise.

the door opened violently letting a blue haired girl walk through as she yawned. "Smiley, Newbie." She I guess greeted us before making her way through the room to go grab a note book on the far right desk before walking back through the door frame. I stood there too shocked to say anything once again. But she slipped her head back in the room for a second. "I'm jinx by the way!" She said before disappearing again. I stood there mouth open questioning what just happened and if she really thought I didn't knew who she was. Everyone knew that jinx was silco's treasure, someone to not mess with.

"That was jinx." Darius said. Did they all thought I lived under a rock? "I know." I said with frowned eyebrows tired of this whole circus that I walked in. "She often come in here to learn more about anatomy for her gadget, I helped her work on sevika's new arm!" He exclaimed proudly. I swallowed hardly at the mention of the scary women. I couldn't deny that all that mystery around her was intriguing but also the violence kept my curious mind in check. I wasn't planning on getting in more trouble than needed.

"I hope you took a coffee already before coming in." He said looking at an old alarm clock on the corner of his desk. A tall half reptilian girl ran into the clinic not even sparing us a glance before putting on a brown blouse on top of her clothes. My gaze shifted back to the doctor. "Why?" I asked but before he answered me the old alarm clock went off and less than a second later I heard an hoard of screaming and stomping coming in our direction. "I hope you have thick skin newbie." Said the reptilian women as rugged man and women floded the entire room.

_____

"You did good!" Said the doctor as I pass my hand through my soaked bangs. "You can have the night it's enough for a first day. But get ready to call this room your new home kid." He said before pushing me towards the door. He didn't had to tell me twice I made my way outside of the towering building before letting my head fall against one of its cold brick wall a few meter away from the door. Judging by the cold air against my skin it was probably well pass sunset and well pass "her" bed time.

I sigh, at least Zika was home and I knew she tucked her in bed. I heard a deep chuckle a few meter away from me, I shift my gaze a hand ready to get out my pocket knife on whoever was hiding in the shadow. A pale glowing orange dot barely breaking the darkness a few feet away. "Who's there!" I exclaimed trying to sound convincingly menacing. I pulled out my knife in front of me as the person didn't announced themselves. The pale light fell to the ground and dissapeared under a stomping noise.

I took a step back in a cautious way as I heard the heavy footsteps. My gaze climbed up the imposing women walking out of the shadow. Short brown hair barely touching her shoulders and perpetually frowned gaze. Everyone knew who she was, I knew who she was, but I didn't wanted to be in a dark ally with someone like her.

Standing there I knew my knife wasn't gonna do much against the tall women so against my better instincts I just put it back in my pocket thinking it was wiser to not engage a fight I was bound to lose. "Sorry, didn't knew it was your spot." I just said lazily before turning on my heels to make my way home. "You're not gonna last a week." She scuffed behind me. I halt at her unnecessary words. "Excuse me?" I said before turning around to look back at her.

A hint of a cruel smile shine upon her lips as her usual frown was directed at me. "You don't even know me, keep your comment for yourself." I said annoyed before sending her a bitter look. What was she trying to do? Was she looking for a fight? She was out of luck it wasn't my type.

"You didn't last the night." She said plainly. "They sent me home!" I was offended at her implication. I didn't asked for a break they offered. "Probably because you looked dead already." Her gaze ran all over me analyzing my state. Okay maybe I was slightly exhausted but I will get used to it. I didn't had a choice. "It was my first day." I said half to convince her and half to convince myself. Before turning back around and walking away from the tower and the strange character it contained.

[jackfrostsdaughter]

Micheal Sheen has been turned into a seeing eye friend the same way @milkpropaganda was. Extraordinary.

We all joke about how Crowley follows Aziraphale around like a puppy (he totally does) but I think it’s so funny that it’s likely partially because David Tennant just couldn’t fucking see between the snake eye contacts and the shades, and Michael was like a beacon with his white hair and was often wearing white, so David stuck close and watched him like that to keep from running into everything LMAO

[centers-for-disease-control]

Alright, due to popular request, I bring you the break down of the Taiwan Disease Personifications. Also, just so y’all know, the official explanations for the designs are not easy to find, so a lot of this is just from what I notice and what I know about the diseases

To start off, we have everyone’s favorite disease: COVID-19

So, this is one of the designs where I could actually find the artist explanation, so I will be including that information plus a couple things I noticed and how I think it fits the disease. So let’s start with to crown. The reason for the inclusion of the crown is the reflect the name coronavirus, corona being the Latin word for crown. The face is partially obscured because of COVID’s tendency to hide itself. The bean bag chair that they are sitting on has many protrusions signifying the spike proteins. The different digital devices represent how the world went virtual during the pandemic and the news channels behind them represent the media’s freak out when COVID was at its height. The floor has an outline of the world because everywhere was affected by the pandemic. Also, if you look closely, they are wearing little Covid earrings.

Next up, we got Zika:

I could not find an official artist statement for this design, so take my explanation with a grain of salt. So first off the red waist band reminds me of the red stripe that goes down the abdomen of the mosquito species that spreads Zika after it has fed. Also, the white markings on the black are also a characteristic of this species of mosquito. In fact, the design is the stripes on the chest look like the markings these mosquitoes have on their back. She presents female because it’s the female mosquitoes that bite and spread diseases. Her sleeves look like mosquito wings once again a reference to mosquitoes being the primary vectors of Zika. The area behind her has palm fronds to represent that Zika is a disease typically found in tropical climates.

Next up we have: Hansen’s Disease (aka Leprosy)

This is one where I could find the artist statement due to it being a pretty recent one, however, I will say that at least the translation was a bit lacking in describing the reasoning of every detail. She is a mask maker because leprosy changes how people perceive those who are infected but it is something that can easily be removed with modern antibiotics. She has different accessories like the lion and crocodile headpiece that implicate the divine involvement because leprosy has been historically thought to be a punishment of the gods. The scales on her arm look like an allusion to the scaling pattern scars that those with leprosy would develop.

Next up: Rubella

After a lot of digging I found the official profile for this design but it didn’t really explain the design choices so we are going to do more analysis on my end. So the pomegranate and the red dots represent the red rashes that come with rubella infections. The glasses I assume are to show how Rubella can lead to Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) which can occur in children if their mother had rubella while pregnant. One of the symptoms that comes with CRS is cataracts.

Next up: the plague

I found the explanation on this and it just confirmed my own suspicions for certain design choices. So her design is very focused on death and mysticism because of how the Black Plague led to a lot of cultural focus on these two ideas. Behind her are old coins because of the economic impact the plague had on the civilizations of its time. The references to death are the skeletal pattern on her dress, and the scythe behind her and on her belt. The references to mysticism include the tarot cards she is holding and the crosses on her hat. On the tarot cards are designs referencing the three different forms the plague takes (bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic) as well as a posey which was used to try to ward of the plague in old times. On her hat is also a collection of plague doctor masks which is pretty self explanatory as to how that connects.

Next up: Ebola

I couldn’t find the official explanation for this disease, so this is mostly speculation based on my analysis. Her outfit is red because of the hemorrhaging that comes with the disease. Specifically he lips are red because one of the more unique characteristics of Ebola is hiccuping up blood. The accessories seem to be inspired by central and western african traditional jewelry. There appear to be tribal masks on the necklace, I am not well versed in African art unfortunately, so any deeper meaning of these accessories are unfortunately lost on me. There are bats on the headdress because of bats being the natural host of Ebola. Her design is rather demonic because Ebola was so terrible for the areas affected, that people thought it could be caused be some great evil. The skulls are because of the extremely high death rate that comes with ebola. The leaves and fruits shown come from the African jungles which is typically where Ebola outbreaks start.

Next up: Novel Influenza A Virus Infections

I actually found the artist explanation for this design! As a disease closely associated with birds, there are many elements linked to birds. There are many bird shadows, the hair that looks like feathers, and the beak shaped mask, feathers on his tie and a feather tattoo on right arm, and the “H-N” pin (H and N proteins of the influenza virus).

Next up: Dengue Fever

Another one with an artist statement! Since only female mosquitoes bite, the character is set as a female. Her dark red lips represent mosquito’s instinct to bite, and she is holding a poisonous thornapple flower. She has mosquito wings tattooed on her back and thornapple flower tattooed on her arm. I have spent a long time looking into how the thornapple flower relates to dengue, but I haven’t had a lot of luck. From what I have seen is that the roots, seeds, and leaves are used in some traditional medicines, including treatments for malaria, but I have not had luck finding how it is connected to Dengue specifically.

Next up: Japanese Encephalitis

I found the artist statement for this disease as well. The disease is visualized into three characters that form a pop group, with their names reflecting the 3 main Culex mosquito species that spread Japanese encephalitis in Taiwan, which are Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Three), Culex annulus (Ring), and Culex fuscocephala (Shiro). They wear black and white, like the colors of the Culex mosquitoes. Red accessories represent their love for blood. I don’t have much to add outside of the artist explanation.

Last one for now is: Rabies

I found the explanation for this one, but it is not descriptive at all, so I am going to be going into every detail because this is Rabies. The spikes on the jacket and pant legs represent the protein spikes rabies uses to infect nerves. The blue jacket and gloves are representing water as one of the unique characteristics of rabies is hydrophobia (physical repulsion to water). The claw marks on the shirt show the animalistic tendencies the virus brings out. The violin players in the animal mask show how the virus can hide in these animals. The personification of rabies is holding a conductor’s wand showing how rabies controls those who are infected. The teeth necklace shows how it spreads through bites and they are standing on the brain because that is what rabies infects. He has a chain with mammal skulls once again tying back to rabies being a fatal mammalian disease. The belt buckle has a bone on it as bone are associated with bones and rabies is associated with dogs.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

The virus behind an outbreak in Brazil can spread from mother to fetus

Transmission of Oropouche to the womb means it has a feature in common with Zika and dengue

A virus that caused a large outbreak in Brazil this year can spread from a pregnant woman to the fetus. The confirmation of several cases of transmission to the womb means that the virus, called Oropouche, has a feature in common with two other insect-borne viruses, Zika and dengue.

A 40-year-old woman’s stillbirth this summer in Brazil was linked to transmission of the virus from the woman to the fetus, researchers report October 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine. (The World Health Organization defines a stillbirth as the death of a fetus after 28 weeks of pregnancy.) The Brazilian Ministry of Health has also confirmed two other deaths due to the spread of Oropouche virus to the womb: a stillbirth to a 28-year-old woman and a baby born with congenital anomalies who died after 47 days. There are other potential cases of transmission to the womb being investigated.

As of mid-October, Brazil has reported more than 8,000 cases of Oropouche fever since the beginning of the year. It’s the largest outbreak in the Americas this year; some of the other countries with cases include Peru, with more than 900, and Cuba, with more than 500. Infections can cause fever, chills, joint pain and severe headaches, among other symptoms. The virus is spread mainly by the bite of Culicoides paraensis midges, which are very small flies, and sometimes by mosquitoes. As with Zika, there aren’t any medicines to treat Oropouche fever or vaccines that target the virus.

Continue reading.

[louissatturi]

WHY PEOPLE THINK Q!CELLBIT IS Q!BAGI LONG LOST BROTHER

• Look at this idiots, identical

• Bagi called attention to the fact that cellbit's hair was just like her's but inverted

• cc!bagi said to peopld to analyse her minecraft skin and that everything om her skin was invencional

• When she asked the brazilians about if they liked worms and Candy cellbit gave a weird awnser to both, whith the cand he anwsared "se eu ver dando sopa eu pego" (if i see laying around i take it) implying that he would steal random candy, something that her brother would also do and about the pet worm idea he said "ter uma minhoca de estimação ia ser zika" (having a pet worm would be pretty rad) then he said to bagi in a really strange way "but im not your brother"

• the chest that she found yesterday had a soup that cellbit already said it gave nostalgia for his hunger games past

• The chest having horror book, mistery book, a coffee mug (bagi HATES coffee) and a book teaching cyphers(all this stuff can also aply to bagi, minus The coffee, só idk)

• acording to some people they see glasses/goggles in the hair (i dont see it personaly)

• "It only exists one afeminited fag that does this passiva tóxica(toxic bottom) pose and wears a trench coat, its cellbit for SURE!"

[zhi-bde]

Canada recently issued a travel advisory following the emergence of the Oropouche virus, also known as the 'sloth virus', transmitted through flying insect bites, causing outbreaks in Cuba and South America. Below is an explanation of what the virus is and how it spreads.

Written by Cameron Webb, University of Sydney and Andrew van den Hurk, The University of Queensland

International authorities are issuing warnings about “sloth fever”. Despite the name, it’s not contracted via contact with sloths. Rather, you should avoid contact with mosquitoes and biting midges.

So how can Canadians protect themselves from sloth fever when travelling to South and Central America? And how does “sloth fever” compare with other mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika?

What is ‘sloth fever’?

Sloth fever is caused by Oropouche virus and is formally known as Oropouche virus disease or Oropouche fever.

The virus is an orthobunyavirus. So it’s from a different family of viruses to the flaviviruses (which includes dengue, Japanese encephalitis and Murray Valley encephalitis viruses) and alphaviruses (chikungunya, Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses).

Oropouche virus was first identified in 1955. It takes its name from a village in Trinidad and Tobago, where the person who it was first isolated from lived.

Symptoms include fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, joint pain, nausea, vomiting and a rash. This makes it difficult to distinguish it from other viral infections. Around 60% of people infected with the virus become ill.

There is no specific treatment and most people recover in less than one month.

However, serious symptoms, including encephalitis and meningitis (inflammation of the brain and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord) have occasionally been reported.

What’s happening with this latest outbreak?

In July, the Pan American Health Organization issued a warning after two women from northeastern Brazil died following infection with Oropouche virus, the first fatalities linked to this virus.

There has also been one fetal death, one miscarriage and four cases of newborns with microcephaly, a condition characterized by an abnormally small head, where infection during pregnancy occurred. The situation is reminiscent of the Zika outbreak in 2015–16.

Oropouche had historically been a significant concern in the Americas. However, the illness had slipped in importance following successive outbreaks of chikungunya and Zika from 2013 to 2016, and more recently, dengue.

How is Oropouche virus spread?

Oropouche virus has not been well studied compared to other insect-borne pathogens. We still don’t fully understand how the virus spreads.

The virus is primarily transmitted by blood-feeding insects, particularly biting midges (especially Culicoides paraensis) and mosquitoes (potentially a number of Aedes, Coquillettidia, and Culex species).

We think the virus circulates in forested areas with non-human primates, sloths and birds as the main suspected hosts. During urban outbreaks, humans are carrying the virus and blood-feeding insects then go on to infect other people.

The involvement of biting midges (blood sucking insects mistakenly known as “sandflies”) makes the transmission cycle of Oropouche virus a little different to those only spread by mosquitoes. The types of insects spreading the virus may also differ between forested and urban areas.

Why is Oropouche virus on the rise?

The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a warning about rising cases of Oropouche in the Americas. Cases are rising outside areas where it was previously found, such as the Amazon basin, which has authorities concerned.

More than 8,000 cases of disease have been reported from countries including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Cuba (as of August 21, 2024).

Cases of travellers acquiring infection in Cuba and Brazil have been reported on return to Europe and North America, respectively. On September 3, the Government of Canada issued a health advisory for international travellers after several travel-related cases of Oropouche were reported internationally, the majority of which were in travellers returning from Cuba.

While a changing climate, deforestation and increased movement of people may partly explain the increase and geographic spread of the virus, something more may be at play.

Oropouche virus appears to have a greater potential for genomic reassortment. This means the evolution of the virus may happen faster than other viruses, potentially leading to more significant disease or increased transmissibility.

Areas in South America with reported cases of Oropouche as of September 4, 2024 (Source: CDC)

What can travellers do to protect themselves?

There are no vaccines or specific treatments available for Oropouche virus.

If you’re travelling to countries in South and Central America, take steps to avoid mosquito and biting midge bites.

Mosquito repellents containing diethytoluamide (DEET), picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus have been shown to be effective in reducing mosquito bites, and are expected to work against biting midge bites too.

Wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants and covered shoes will further reduce the risk.

Sleeping and resting under insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets will help, but much finer mesh nets are required as biting midges are much smaller than mosquitoes.

Although no specific warnings have been issued by Canadian authorities, the CDC and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have warned that pregnant travellers should discuss travel plans and potential risks with their health-care professional.

[aplantwithgooglyeyes]

More critters! Also my precious fish, ZIKA!

[zikadraws]

~ Did a little two years timeskip of my Neo 3 & Smallfry for funsies ~

Sock the Smallfry, shaping up to be a Chum.

Earned the more serious name "Sockeye" (you get a biology sticker if you get the reference) and its own super badass title (they keep modifying it because there's a lot to brag about here), speaks inklish nearly fluently (Zika and 'em taught each other's languages), going through an actual fighter training, welding a modified scooping metal spoon that deals mean damage that Zika found and gifted them.

Grown enough to wear clothes, but dresses mostly "pseudo-grunge", aka "still got no style that truly fits me so I'll be a fashion disaster until I do''. Has a long scar a bit below its neck from ''whatever the hell went down with that whole agent thing''. Matching kinship bracelets with Zika, that he wears on its tail.

Still kinda just hanging around like he's hot stuff. Zika keeps telling them to please get a job. Vaguely considering ambassador career or perhaps Salmonese teaching, but won't do anything about it because he thinks he's a natural and don't need any formation. That's a dangerous mentality to have, Sockeye. Zika could tell you about it, Sockeye.

Zika, aka Neo 3, aka Agent 5 (they insisted).

Still working as an archeologist specialized in human culture, though after Alterna, they seriously lost their spark about it. In fact, after the whole thing they got into a deep depression and never truly recovered, still goes into dissociative episodes, random outbursts, slight nihilism, and often cries themselves to sleep. (Also they got serious PTSD and miiight have ursaphobia now.) Sockeye helped them a lot through that, and still does ; although Zika now no longer cares about telling Humanity's History and would actually rather hide it all from the public. They're very bitter about it. They now focuses on just restorating human media, human ethnicities, and disposal of human remains. They don't like to talk about that, and actually now focuses most of their agent work on getting rid of potentially harmful human stuff. The NSS doesn't have the context of the Alterna logs (5 hides that from them at all costs), so they don't really understand. Although Cap is a willing ear.

Other than that, they are getting decent at Salmonese (issues with understanding though); they manage their restoration enterprise more part-time ; they returned to school to follow anthropology classes and study the various ethnicities of ✨Today✨, especially regarding Salmonids ; got around to travel a lot more (sometimes alone, often with Sockeye and sometimes with the NSS), and keeps a very cautious eye on Grizzco, as they highly suspect their newly acquired nemesis to pull out a Plan C. (Still works here though. Yeah, they're aware.)

Oddest thing though is, after witnessing Agent 5's and Sock's relationship and prowesses, Shiver & Frye got into their minds that Zika simply *must* become "Salmon Tamer". They're going on and on about legacy, ancestral practices and binding rituals and just wouldn't drop it. Zika is pretty reticent to the whole thing, because they find it wildly disrespectful towards the Salmonids as an ethnicity, but eventually caved under the nagging and reluctantly agreed to the training and the outfit and mask crafting. This is relatively recent and they're feeling worse about it than working at Grizzco still. Big Man personally advises against it, the NSS thinks it's super fresh, and Sockeye is... Split.

This recent change might shake Sockeye into finally taking some action upon the whole Envoy of the Salmon Kind idea, actually.

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I know this is super random but I wanted to make it. Also still getting around with that one elaborate post I promised I was making, so have this in the meantime. Hope you enjoyed my OC ramblings :)

Stay fresh 🐟