there have been three new casesof the zika virus among u.s. citizens. don't worry i'll giveyou the details of what is. the zika virus is somethingthat is transmitted from mosquitoes fromperson-to-person. it is not contagious. if someone has this virus theyare not going to give it to you by being around you. you could be transmitted throughsexual contact, but even that is unclear at this point.
do know that mosquitoes dotransmit the zika virus. if you are a nonpregnant human,then you are probably not going to suffer any serioushealth concerns. however, if you are pregnant,need to have something to worry about the zika virusleads to physical deformity among children. we have apicture of what it looks like. basically the brain and thehead don't develop normally. oftentimes children who areborn with this virus do not survive a very long.
there have been three cases inflorida, two in illinois, one in texas, and one in hawaii. it is not easily transmittable,however if there is a big outbreak in a particular area orcountry is likely that in a hot, humid weather mosquitoescan multiply. it becomes more andmore of an issue. let's give you details ontransmission. right now those traveling tothe caribbean or south and central america are at risk.
if you are pregnant, this ismore about you than anything else. i guess the spread of thisvirus is growing rapidly. there are two things that areplaying a role in that, increased travel is one.another issue is climate change. climate change is of coursewarming our planet. and because of that, alsobecause of increased precipitation, what typicallyhappens is it creates an environment for thesemosquitoes to thrive.
more mosquitoes mean more peoplegetting infected with the virus. that is what is going onright now in the world. >>hooray. there are not really ways tocombat this besides avoiding them? >> no treatments and no vaccinesavailable at this moment. >>it seems like what they areworking on right now is modifying mosquitoes? >>yes.
they are trying to geneticallymodify these mosquitoes so they will be unable to passalong this virus. the british biotech firm istrying to crack the virus by genetically modifying theinsects. i don't know how thatworks, but it sounds great. >> we have covered a similarstudy before with an attempt to neutralizemosquitoes. mosquitoes are actually the mostdeadly animal in the world. so, some researchers haveattempted to inject some
mosquitoes which would renderthem sterile, then these mosquitoes would meet withmosquitoes in the wild, then their larvae would neverget to the hr they were able to become sustainable. >> that is an interesting wayof combating this issue. i have a question. oftentimes when we do thesestories about mosquitoes spreading illnesses, i alwayswonder if there is really a necessity for mosquitoes.
i'm sure there is some necessitythat is important to the ecosystem. >> it's interesting because wedon't really know what a mosquitoes purpose isbesides making us dead. we are not really sure of that. there might be some unintendedconsequences. what if it causes ã±what if somehow this causes the strain to mutate into amore virulent strain. we are not really there yet inknowing what the causal
effects of this are. i think it's a good cause. >> it's risky because theremight be some hidden unknown consequences ofmessing with mosquitoes. but i hate mosquitoes and i amwilling to take those risks. >> when you weigh the effects,perhaps it would affect the food chain or the environmentin some way. but we are also talking aboutsaving human lives. >> also, if we have created thisissue where our planet is
warming and now we have thisunnatural increase in mosquito populations, i don'tthink it is necessarily the worst thing in the world tofind a way to mitigate that. i don't know what the answer is,but if climate change is leading to the spread of moreviruses, we need to do something about it, right? i know it sounds scary forpregnant women. it is scary for womenwho travel abroad. this illness couldreally have serious ã±
>> microcephaly is drasticallyawful in what it does to little kids. i'm sorry, justinfants, not little kids. let's hope that this gmoengineering works. i cannot stand theselittle buggers. >> the research techniquesneed to get to the point where we are aware of the effects. >>for most people, what do you do? you live in a big citywith buses, cars.
or if you live out in thecountr-, i remember when i lived in louisiana, as i enteredthe state of louisiana this huge billboard had a big mosquito onit that said 'mosquitoes kill'. and i thought why are we notturning around to where dying of things make sense? there are so many newthings to be afraid of. just fuck it, just go andsee what happens. >>to be honest, this is not oneof the things i am afraid of. just to be clear, i just bookedmy honeymoon in mexico.
i'm not getting pregnantthere, that's for sure. i'm going to use properprotection and not get pregnant. in brazil it seems likethere is a high chance. let me give you some of thosenumbers and tell you why this is now making news. the zika virus has been aroundfor some time, but there have been very few casesreported up until recently. so, this is what people arepanicking about it. the spread is rapid.
as long as you are not pregnantor are not planning to get pregnant, you aregoing to be fine. >> that is my theory in life. >> it is all good, y'all.
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