Bohdan writes:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6437a5.htm
The weather inside this Amtrak train is sunny and dry and around 25 degree celsius. Outside it is sunny and dry and a bit cooler as we shlep through North Carolina heading north. My Ipod is confused as to where it is and is not providing a local temperature.
There were no new mushroom sightings in Durham as I walked to the Amtrak train station this morning.
Your Zika podcasts have been terrific. I have never been so interested in mosquitos as now. My interest in the past has been limited to metallic mosquitos, syringes.
Someone should write a book on the epidemiology of the syringe, both positive and negative. The closest treatment of this subject has been Pepin’s, The Origins of AIDS which should be a pick of the week if it has not yet been.
There are some reports in the literature that one cannot discuss Zika without also including the conditions created by previous dengue and chikv outbreaks.
In addition, Cuba has now had three well described sequential outbreaks of dengue of different severity. This has taken place despite the fact that Cuba has endemic dengue. These outbreaks seem to take place every eighteen years. The immunology of sequential outbreaks of dengue and their possible impact on zika could make for an interesting TWIV.
Given the thaw in Cuban/American relations, a TWIV/TWIM/TWIP from Havana could be interesting. Cuba has had one economic success in developing a biotechnology sector. It provides inexpensive vaccine and biological alternatives to developing countries.
It was very helpful for Vincent to mention the continued problems with congenital rubella syndrome. The WHO and other factsheets state that there are 100,000 such cases worldwide per year. The CDC in its review of CRS in 2015 (2000 to 2014) cited above mentions the fact that there has been a ninety five percent decline in CRS. But that there were still 33,000 plus REPORTED cases in 2014. That is still much too many. But, at least there has been progress. My rather cursory research did not find how the 100,000 was arrived at or whether it needs to be revised.
Finally, I have taken it upon myself to find a way to publish the parasitology textbook of Dickson D and Daniel.
Since viruses move parasitically but bacteria and parasites move on their own, I thought you might find this video on the ultimate purpose of brains by Daniel Wolpert, a Cambridge U neuroscientist, interesting.
If you can distract me with fascinating scientific trivia, I can try to do the same to you.
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_wolpert_the_real_reason_for_brains?language=en
Kayla writes:
I finally had a chance to listen to this week’s episode, and I’m tickled to see my meme as the image. I’m glad Alan has the same penchant for pop culture references as I do; I’m dreaming up a Hannibal Lector one as I type.
Thank you for the follow up cast on Zika; it’s been interesting to read and listen to the fast paced evolution of this virus in the media, and also how it opens the door for more research into fetal virology. I can’t wait to see the discoveries that result from this unfortunate disease. Maybe it’s been clarified before, but I can’t help but think; why now? If Zika is endemic in areas like Brazil, why is there a seemingly sudden correlation between infection and microcephaly? Has the connection always been there and we are just seeing it now, or has something changed?
Anyway, thanks again for the shout-out in the podcast, and thanks to Alan for the continued meme-fodder. Take care, all!
Kayla
@DoubleOhHelix
P.S. It’s a remarkably warm February here in Calgary. The temperature rose to nearly 11°C earlier this week – my ability to be a winter-smug Canadian has been obliterated this year.
Deborah writes:
Dear TWIV team,
I listened to the Zika discussion (TWIV 376) and there times when the team was not sure about the physiology of pregnancy, placenta, fetal blood brain barrier, maternal immune system, etc. While you are all experts in your fields, I think it would enhance your discussion exponentially if you add an expert in maternal fetal medicine when discussing pregnancy. There would be less guessing and trying to remember from prior readings and education, and would lead to a much crisper and and reliable discussion.
Similarly, I would suggest adding a content expert occasionally when you are applying lab science to clinical work.
Thank you for your generous sharing of expertise.
Deborah Moorhouse, RN,
MSN, WHNP-BC
Fernando writes:
Hi TWiVirate,
I was doing one of my backcountry skiing trips the first half of February so I I’m only now listening to episode 374, where you talked about norovirus infection in cruise ships. I spend quite a bit of time in backcountry mountain lodges, which are ideal noro habitat because people arrive with their microbes from all parts to share a small, cramped space for a week or so. Lodge managers have painfully learned to be obsessive about containing the virus. All surfaces, door handles, railings, bathrooms are repeatedly disinfected with industrial-strength bleach; staff serves all food, and individually wraps sandwiches; if at all possible — some of the more remote lodges lack running water and standard bathrooms — guests with suspicious symptoms are segregated to separate bedrooms and bathrooms; instructions for bathroom and hand disinfection are prominently posted; and more. I don’t have statistics, but the anecdata I’ve heard suggests that lodges have become much better at keeping noro at bay than they were ten years ago.
Best
Josh writes:
Hi TWiV crew,
Thought you might be interested in this article in Nature News about Dave O’Connor’s (guest on episode #260, Badgers Go Viral) work to make his lab’s Zika data public in real time. Similar to the recent commitment by many journals to make Zika papers open access, which you’ve already discussed.
Full disclosure: I work at LabKey Software, and collaborate with the O’Connor lab. We develop LabKey Server, the open-source data management system the lab is using internally, and to share their data with the public. I started listening to the podcast years ago, and was happy (and surprised) to hear Dave’s voice on that episode.
Thanks,
Josh
Aline writes:
Dear TWIVZiks!
As a chatty big fan, here I am again. I try to keep silence, but is bigger than me.
I work as regional coordinator of vector control here in Brazil and I would like to bring some information about the use of larvicide.
The use of larvicide Pyriproxyfen is part of vector Control (PNCD – Programa Nacional de Controle da Dengue) all over the country. Not only in the northeast. The same way with the adulticide (now we are using diethyl succinate – Malathion). Before 2014, was used Temephos as larvicide.
The Program includes periodically evaluating the safety and effectiveness of larvicides and adulticide used to combat vector.
We follow the protocols. The numbers of applications and dilutions are planned and guided by program standards (WHO guidelines).
I work at Secretaria Estadual de Saúde do Rio Grande do Sul (State Health Secretary) in the south of Brazil. Here, we only have had one case of microcephaly associated with Zika virus. The mother had traveled to Pernambuco, North East (NE) of Brazil, in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Despite the low number of cases of microcephaly, Rio Grande do Sul was the only state that suspended the use of pyriproxyfen in potable water. A “Non sequitur”, as a friend said.
In fact, this is not a big deal, because we had never used the larvicide in drinking water here. We continue working normally as we always have, applying larvicide at deposits that we cannot remove. But not in drinking water. There is a protocol at PNCD to use at drinking water, but we don’t adopt it.
Our reality is quite different from the NE, where the population faces difficulty in accessing drinking water, making it necessary to store it. We don’t have this kind of problem here.
As Alan has predicted, as result of the suspension, people now are not very receptive to larvicide.
Best regards!
Aline
Mitchell writes:
Dear TWiV sphere,
Recently I have seen many articles discussing the sexual transmission of Zika virus through semen. The first case suggesting sexual transmission was in 2008 and we since witnessed over a dozen cases, albeit not confirmed, of sexual transmission of Zika. In my immunology course, I was taught that the testes were an immune-privileged site, similar to the blood-brain barrier and the placenta yet, Zika particles have been found in semen up to 62 days post infection. My question is, if Zika can be found in the semen of infected men, that would suggest it crosses the testis barrier and if this is the case, could a similar mechanism be used by the virus to cross the placenta as well? I understand these cases are not confirmed and this might be wild speculation on my part but can immune privileged reproductive sites play a role in the spread of Zika via sexual transmission?
Warm Regards,
Mitch K.
Sources:
Zika in semen for 62 days– http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/5/16-0107_article
Testes immune privilege– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4197207/
14 suspected cases of sexual transmission– http://www.statnews.com/2016/02/23/zika-sexual-transmission/
Patricia writes:
TWiV-ites:
I am very intrigued by the discussions of Zika, primarily due to my interest in human biocultural evolution being a trained biological anthropologist. My own personal interest is in hominin evolution; however, teaching a basic introductory course that satisfies a natural-science lab requirement at the university necessitates me talking about human infectious diseases. I typically use sickle-cell/malaria and lactose intolerance as examples in the class, but the last few years with the Ebolavirus (the nurse that traveled to Akron caused quite a stir) and now Zika has allowed me to use proximate examples in classes—thanks for keeping a relatively informed, non-virologist up to date! I began listening to TWiV during Ebolavirus, and have not stopped.
My question is primarily with Zika transmission across the placenta. I understand through my own studies and teaching basic embryology at medical schools that inductions or hiccups during development can result in massive fetal abnormalities. While it is unclear when Zika might infect a fetus, I agree that it seems likely an early developmental infection might be more likely than late given neuronal embryology. So, could it be possible that moms become infected with Zika (at a non-clinical symptom level) prior to getting pregnant? Because Zika is in their system the placenta and blood supply to developing fetus is produced when Zika is circulating in the mom, so that the virus does not necessarily cross a developed placenta boundary, but is present at the onset of placental development? Just curious, this is not my primary area of interest.
The current weather in NE Ohio is rain, wind and temps at 40F/4C, and also beginning of the MUD season—particularly bad considering my daughter rides horses regularly.
Cheers!
Patricia S. Vinyard, Ph.D.
Visiting College Lecturer
Department of Anthropology and Classical Studies
University of Akron
Lisa writes:
Greetings twiv team!
Hello! My name is Lisa and I’m a graduate student in micro and immuno at Vanderbilt. I’ve greatly enjoyed listening to your last few episodes regarding Zika virus and its potential link to microcephaly. It spurred an incredible conversation I had this past weekend with my grandmother, who was a nurse in obstetrics from the late 50’s to the early 90’s. During her tenure she saw a number of anencephalic and microcephalic newborns, though she thought that the increase in microcephaly especially in Brazil reminded her more of babies she saw born to mothers who had taken thalidomide. This is mostly because there weren’t any clear causes in most of the instances of microcephaly whereas thalidomide was at first correlatively, then causally linked to birth defects. (Side note: I’ve recently learned that thalidomide is in use again, though now as a cancer drug, with very careful screening to ensure it isn’t given to pregnant women.) She had a great question that I don’t think has been directly addressed in the last few episodes (though if it has and I missed it, I apologize): has there been an increase in miscarriages in Zika affected countries? And if so, are the brains and skulls of the miscarried fetuses appropriately sized for their gestational age? She thought perhaps if the infection happened early enough the mother may miscarry instead of taking the baby to term.
I’m a long time listener of twiv, twim, and twip, and I was curious if you ever thought about making twii (this week in immunology)? I’m training in a bacteriology lab, and listening to your various podcasts has greatly expanded my knowledge of all facets of microbiology. I just wish I had known about them before I took my qualifying exam two years ago.
It’s currently 47 Fahrenheit (8.3 Celsius) as I walk to lab, with a high in Nashville today of 62 (17).
Thanks for all you do!
Hello again twiv team!
I had email earlier in the week about a possible correlation between Zika virus and miscarriages, and I just wanted to follow up with a paper that was published today: “Zika Virus Infection and Stillbirths: A Case of Hydrops Fetalis, Hydranencephaly and Fetal Demise” (http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0004517). It seems as though there may indeed be a link between Zika and fetal demise.
Thanks for all you do!
Lisa
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