Zika Virus May Have Spread To Common Mosquito

Scientists in Brazil believe the devastating Zika virus may have already crossed over to the common mosquito, dramatically increasing the risk of it spreading worldwide.
The Brazilian government is already struggling to contain a growing public health disaster.

There are suspicions the mosquito-borne virus is linked to more than 4,000 babies with brain deformities in South America’s largest country.

The authorities have called troops out on to the street and deployed teams of health workers to try to combat the spread but so far those at the forefront admit they are nowhere near succeeding.

Up until now, it was thought the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is confined to the tropics, was solely spreading the virus.

But scientists at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recife, Pernambuco State, in the northeast of the country, believe otherwise.
They say they are as little as a month away from confirming that the virus is also being carried and transmitted by the much more common Culex mosquito.

There are 20 times more Culex mosquitos in existence as the Aedes aegypti and they are significantly more widespread – breeding throughout most of the Americas, parts of Africa and Asia – so increasing the chances of the virus spreading.

The lead research scientist at the foundation, Constancia Ayres, told Sky News that if her suspicions are confirmed, the implications are huge.
“It means much more combined efforts from a lot of other countries are going to be needed to combat this virus,” she said.

Dr Vanessa Van Der Linden, from the Barao de Lucena Hospital in Recife, was the first person to spot a possible link between the Zika virus and a spike in the increase in microcephaly births, a dangerous condition where babies are born with abnormally small heads.

“I saw three cases of microcephaly in one day last August when normally I would see one maybe every three months,” she said.
“It was very strange.”

She said so little was known about the virus and its effects, she and the other doctors were learning “as we go along”.

The virus has no cure and no vaccine and although efforts have now been stepped up to develop one, it’s far too late for the thousands already condemned to a lifetime of struggle – where their hearing and sight may be affected, where their brain development will be limited and their life expectancy shortened.

Dr Angela Rocha is from the Oswaldo Cruz University Hospital, which has seen more than 300 microcephaly cases in the last five months.
She said: “We just don’t know much about this virus at all. The mothers ask me ,’Will it get better? Will my baby’s head grow?’
“And I have to tell them ‘no, it’s never going to get better’.”