Tears and Bewilderment in Brazilian City Facing Zika Crisis

[jpak]

Source: New York Times

RECIFE, Brazil — So many distraught mothers stream into the infant ward clutching babies with abnormally small heads that the receptionist sends them outside, to see if they can find a chair to wait under the mango tree.

“There’s shade there, at least,” said Maria Helena Lopes, 66, as she greeted one young mother after another. “We’ll call you when we’re ready.”

Roziline Ferreira took three buses to get here, grasping her 3-month-old son, Arthur, all the way. Tears swelled as she looked at him, recalling how the symptoms of the Zika virus had struck her during the second month of her pregnancy. How would she ever be able to care for him, she wondered? What kind of life would he have?

“It gets me angry when someone on the bus looks at Arthur and asks, ‘What’s wrong with his head?’” Ms. Ferreira said. “I tell them, ‘Nothing’s wrong, he’s just different.’ But then I think to myself, ‘Yes, something’s wrong. My son will never be like the other boys.’ ”

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/world/americas/tears-and-bewilderment-in-brazilian-city-facing-zika-crisis.html?_r=0

[hedgehog]

1. .

[valerief]

2. So pregnant women can be tested for Zika and Brazil has universal healthcare, so they

can abort. Oops, they can't. Brazil might as well be fuckin' Kansas. First, they need to change their abortion laws. But that wouldn't be the only obstacle. The GAWD thing would also stick women with these deformed babies. Actually, as in the U.S., the GAWD thing is directly entangled with the LAW thing. They don't have separation of Church and State either.

[Bernin]

3. I read an article

the other day that said the center of this Zika outbreak was the same area that genetically modified mosquitoes were released in 2015.

[bananas]

5. Murphy's Law applies to genetic engineering. nt

[bananas]

6. This one?

Zika Outbreak Epicenter In Same Area Where GM Mosquitoes Were Released In 2015
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/01/zika-outbreak-epicenter-in-same-area-where-gm-mosquitoes-were-released-in-2015.html

[HuckleB]

8. It's best to question such claims. The conspiracy purveyors love this stuff.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-c-smith/the-zika-conspiracies-hav_b_9162854.html

[FSogol]

9. Not true. The mosquitoes that carry Zika and Chikungunya are different than the genetic

engineered version. Science can help in outbreaks of viruses. Spreading tin-foily misinformation does no one any good.

[bananas]

4. Zika Virus May Have Spread To Common Mosquito

http://news.sky.com/story/1631065/zika-virus-may-have-spread-to-common-mosquito

Zika Virus May Have Spread To Common Mosquito

Scientists in the epicentre of the Zika outbreak suspect the virus is being carried by another, more widespread mosquito.

11:06, UK, Thursday 28 January 2016
By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, in Recife

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.

<snip>

... scientists at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recife, Pernambuco State, in the northeast of the country, ...

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.

<snip>

[Blue_Tires]

7. If only there was some fearless, intrepid investigative reporter

with an unlimited budget living in Brazil who might dig into this...

Nah, he's spending all his days hate-tweeting about Hillary and "the establishment"