Zeka Virus in Scotland

Apparently the Zika Virus has been discovered amongst a number of people in Scotland.

I've always been amazed that the Scottish Midge doesn't carry anything nasty (e.g. the Lyme Disease carried by tics or the Weil's Disease that is carried by rats) ...

... so I'm serious when I suggest that we should all hope and pray that the Scottish Midge doesn't become a carrier of the Zika Virus!

Having read that i had a look and found this on BBC News.

Zika outbreak: 'Small number' of cases found in Scotland.

A number of people in Scotland have been diagnosed as having the Zika virus, it has been confirmed.

The Scottish government said the disease, which has sparked a major health alert in South America, did "not pose a public health risk" in Scotland.

A spokesman said the mosquito that spreads the virus was not found in the UK and Scotland's climate meant it could not become established.

Zika has been linked to microcephaly in babies.

The birth defect results in children being born with abnormally small heads and brain damage.

It is understood that no more than five Scottish cases have been detected.

More than 50 people across the UK have been treated for the infection.

Fear of the virus has led a number of competitors to opt out of this year's Olympic Games in Brazil, including top British golfer Rory McIlroy.

While pregnant women are being advised to postpone non-essential travel to disease hotspots, the NHS stresses that for "most people it is a very mild infection and isn't harmful".

Ziki is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. They are found throughout the Americas except for Canada and Chile where it is too cold for them to survive.

A Scottish government spokesman said: "We can assure the public that Zika does not pose a public health risk in Scotland, and of the cases identified in the UK a very small number have been found in Scotland.

"The mosquito that spreads the virus is not found in the UK, and in any case would not be able to establish in Scotland because of our climate."

He added: "We have already informed the at-risk groups about the risks and how to protect themselves through Health Protection Scotland's travel advice. We continue to closely monitor developments in our understanding of the Zika virus as treatments and testing regimes develop."

Human-to-human infection is rare although there have been some reported cases of people being infected through sexual transmission.

Since the Zika epidemic began in 2015, nearly 5,000 cases of microcephaly have been recorded in affected regions.

On 1 February 2016 the World Health Organisation declared the epidemic an international public health emergency.

Worldwide concern has centred on north-east Brazil but more than 20 other countries have now been affected.

So far more than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the US - four patients in Florida who have tested positive for the virus appear to be the first cases not linked to travel outside the US mainland.

My immediate thoughts were that at the moment the Scottish Midge (and those in Cumbria as well) don't carry ANY transmittable diseases so, even though they bite many thousands of people many times every year, no-one actually catches anything from their bites.

I've always thought that this was one of the miracles of nature and it has always helped me to discount the itchiness whenever I've been attacked.

However, the Zika virus is a new entity that has now been introduced to an existing colony of biting insects so (even in the knowledge that it is total "doom and gloom" thinking) who's to say that a Scottish midge biting a person with the Zika virus won't pick up and transmit the virus to the next person they bite?

Only time will tell.

As a retired biologist - and an incredibly lazy one at this time of night - I offer the following possibility:
Both mosquitos and midgies bite people in order to draw blood as a food.
The purpose of this food is for the females to produce viable eggs.
As these insects go, mosquitos are quite large, midgies are very tiny.
Perhaps, therefore, the mosquitos need a good hit of blood, the midgies only a tiny one.
If so, then the mosquitos might need to visit several victims to grab enough nosh. This would then make them a good transmission route for a disease organism.
If the tiny midgie only needs to bite once, by and large, to fulfill its requirements, then it is a terrible way for a disease organism to transmit itself. Even if it did pick up the organism on its first bloodfest, it would be unlikely to be transmitted.
My expectation would be that, since such transmitted organisms have to be very well adapted (to survive inside the correct organs in the vector - such as the mosquito - and then to proliferate in the host), then any evolution of this adaptation involving both midgies and humans is hugely unlikely.
Hope I'm right! The little buggers bite me too often for my liking even though I'm no longer on Skye!!

Any midge can pass it on immediately after biting an infected person, but they won't carry it any further unless an Aedes Aegypti Mosquito which don't live in uk, it does in southern europe. The misses grandmother was at a diabetic clinic and was bitten by a midge that had just bitten and drawn blood from a type 1 diabetic who had just injected insulin, she was a type 2 diabetic and immediately her arm swelled to the size of an inflated balloon and trapped the midge which the doctors could see. They said it was always a theorical possibility but never thought they would see it. Zika is transmitted sexually as well, which brings up a possiblity of other forms of transmission such as touch and even airborne by sneezing etc. As it is new it's a possiblilty.

What does zeka virus do? Are we headed for the zombie apocalypse?

MyQul said:

What does zeka virus do? Are we headed for the zombie apocalypse?

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Absolutely. That's why I've put my life savings on Ebola Zika to win the most Gold Medals in Rio. Just unstoppable.

Hoppyland said:

Absolutely. That's why I've put my life savings on Ebola Zika to win the most Gold Medals in Rio. Just unstoppable.

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I think you'll find that as part of the Russian athletics team she's been banned from Rio and you are now a pennyless waif

MyQul said:

I think you'll find that as part of the Russian athletics team she's been banned from Rio

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You're kidding! Just as well that I had an each-way bet on Dengue Sars. My only hope, now, I guess..........

Isn't there is a sheep disease transferred by midges?

HebridesRob said:

Isn't there is a sheep disease transferred by midges?

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Apparently, yes indeed. Told you I was lazy!
I hadn't realised that adult midges can live for up to 3 months - so they don't necessarily breed then peg it. Which, I guess, means that they can indeed be effective disease vectors.
A brief look suggests that the 4 species implicated in livestock diseases are not the (main) human-targeting species.
But, it's now getting late, so I'm off to bed to have midge-driven apocalypse nightmares. And a lot of psychosomatic (I hope!!) scratching :-(

I'm stopping in! For those venturing out into our insect infested sub tropical oasis. ....drink more beer...get the buggers hung over. .that'll teach em!

Cheers

Clint

Tau said:

.......... Zika is transmitted sexually as well ...........

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Wow! That will change society as we know it. :nono: :nono:

Any bloke who catches the Zika Virus better be able to show his missus the mosquito bite ...

... before she wonders what exactly happened on that "night out with the lads"! :whistle: :whistle:

Dutto said:

Wow! That will change society as we know it. :nono: :nono:

Any bloke who catches the Zika Virus better be able to show his missus the mosquito bite ...

... before she wonders what exactly happened on that "night out with the lads"! :whistle: :whistle:

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'I was rogered by a mosquito, honest luv!' :lol:

MyQul said:

What does zeka virus do? ...........

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According to this site ...

http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/10-essential-facts-about-zika-virus/

"For most people, the Zika virus causes only a brief, mild flu-like illness ..."

... but it then goes on to some really serious stuff about pregnant women and birth defects.

I still wince when I think of the first child I saw on the TV with the problem (microcephaly) caused by the virus.

The poor little mite had a head that sloped back and down from just above his eyebrows. It was obvious from the shape of his head that there just wasn't a space where we would normally expect a brain to be.

Genuinely scary stuff!

Dutto said:

According to this site ...

http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/10-essential-facts-about-zika-virus/

"For most people, the Zika virus causes only a brief, mild flu-like illness ..."

... but it then goes on to some really serious stuff about pregnant women and birth defects.

I still wince when I think of the first child I saw on the TV with the problem (microcephaly) caused by the virus.

The poor little mite had a head that sloped back and down from just above his eyebrows. It was obvious from the shape of his head that there just wasn't a space where we would normally expect a brain to be.

Genuinely scary stuff!

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Sounds nasty. I read some sports men & women have decided not to go to Rio because of this

Not to mention that mosquitoes spread malaria that has been responsible for killing more humans than any other disease.

With Billions of dollars spent fighting Al qaeda and Isis - it was the mosquitoes all along. Time for the US to declare war on them I think.

MyQul said:

Sounds nasty. I read some sports men & women have decided not to go to Rio because of this

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If i were a swimmer i wouldn't be going.

Athletes competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil have been warned by doctors, engineers, and scientists to keep their mouths shut while participating in activities in the water.

Brazil police greet tourists with 'Welcome to Hell' sign at airport
Researchers found that many of the beaches in Rio de Janeiro have been long contaminated with raw sewage, household garbage, and even dead bodies, creating hazardous swimming conditions for the 500,000 people expected to descend on the city in August.

“Foreign athletes will literally be swimming in human ****, and they risk getting sick from all those microorganisms,” Rio paediatrician Dr Daniel Becker told the New York Times. “It’s sad but also worrisome.”

The Brazilian government had promised to clean the pathogen-infested Guanabara Bay in 2014, but those efforts failed.

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More here - http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...eces-athletes-mouth-shut-brazil-a7163021.html

Richie_asg1 said:

Not to mention that mosquitoes spread malaria that has been responsible for killing more humans than any other disease.

With Billions of dollars spent fighting Al qaeda and Isis - it was the mosquitoes all along. Time for the US to declare war on them I think.

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The US will never win. Mosquitoes are all fanatics. They follow their one true God Mozz. The mosquito's all beleive that they'll go to Mosquito paradise if they sacrifice themselves in his name.

Chippy_Tea said:

If i were a swimmer i wouldn't be going.

More here - http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...eces-athletes-mouth-shut-brazil-a7163021.html

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Yuk :sick: