The Mosquito Behind The Zika Virus
Meet the Aedes aegypti, a tiny blood-sucking mosquito that is causing panic worldwide for its ability to transmit the Zika virus and a host of other diseases that have recently surfaced in the U.S.
The mosquito, on the decline since the 1980s in Southern Florida, suddenly surfaced in California under unknown circumstances in 2013. That year saw a major spike of illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America, where the Aedes aegypti has been spreading dengue fever, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses that have become pandemic in those regions.
The Aedes aegypti, commonly referred to as the yellow fever mosquito, is recognizable by white markings on its legs and a lyre marking on the insect’s thorax.
The mosquitoes primarily breed in closed-container, damp environments such as unused flowerpots, spare tires, untreated swimming pools, and drainage ditches.
The virus originated in Africa and has been documented off and on in the U.S. for centuries, although the mosquito’s most recent domestic history is fraught with question marks.
The mosquito has been “incriminated as the likely primary vector in historical outbreaks of yellow fever as far north as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, from the 1690s to the 1820s,” according to academic research.
It has been detected in Florida and some southern states. The climate of South Florida makes the region a good breeding ground and the insect was previously a common disease-spreading vector in the state until the arrival of a rival mosquito, the Asian tiger mosquito, or Aedes albopictus, in 1985.
The insect was first detected in significance in California in 2013. Before 2011, the Aedes aegypti was “rarely detected in California and were not known to persist,” related an article from the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In September 2015, the insect was also detected for the first time in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
Another transmitter of similar diseases, the mosquito Aedes albopictus, was detected in Kern and San Diego counties as well as regions of Los Angeles County.
The mosquito has been spreading the Zika virus, which epidemiologists believe is causing an unprecedented outbreak of infants born with small heads in Brazil. The disease is also associated with developmental delays, seizures, and intellectual disabilities in newborns. Last month, after 2,400 babies were born in the country with microcephaly, a neurological disorder, Brazilian health officials took the unusual step of warning women not to get pregnant.
Besides the possibility of causing birth defects, according to the CDC, the most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes). Other common symptoms include muscle pain and headache. The incubation period (the time from exposure to symptoms) for Zika virus disease is not known, but is likely to be a few days to a week.
The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week.
Iran Spreads Its Influence In Gaza
Iran has taken advantage of the recent cold spell in the Gaza Strip to increase its influence over the local population at a time when subsidies for Islamic organizations have been severely cut.
Al Sabireen, an Iranian-supported group that splintered off from Islamic Jihad, as well as affiliated organizations have been handing out blankets, clothes, and winter equipment to Gaza’s poor. The supplies are funded by Tehran.
Al Sabireen provided photos of the distribution effort to Breitbart Jerusalem.
The headquarters of the “Khomeini Relief Committee,” which led the campaign, featured pro-Iran banners in Arabic and Farsi.
Al Sabireen militants told Breitbart Jerusalem that the organization was deeply involved in the campaign, and Iran’s condition for funding was that it would be publicized as organized by the “Khomeini Relief Committee.”
Shi’ite Iran’s growing involvement in the Gaza Strip has caused controversy in the predominantly Sunni Palestinian society, which sees it as interventionist and missionary.