Everything we know about the Zika virus, the first worldwide health panic of 2016

An article on Vice about the worldwide health panic over the Zika virus, an illness that is often symptomless but can lead to birth defects when it infects pregnant women, quotes Jared Aldstadt, associate professor of geography. “We’ve never seen this linkage with birth defects before, because now it’s in a different environment,” he said. “Maybe it’s just a better health care system, so it can be recorded, but it’s probably more that, in places where Zika is endemic, the people getting infected are children, so it wouldn’t really overlap with pregnancy.” Aldstadt also was interviewed for a story on WGRZ-TV and said the best prevention is to avoid being bitten by mosquitos. “People can protect themselves by wearing long sleeves and pants, and can also use insecticide treatment,” he said.

Read more:

http://www.vice.com/read/everything-we-know-about-the-zika-virus-the-first-worldwide-health-panic-of-2016

http://www.wgrz.com/news/major-zika-outbreak-unlikely-in-us/25086925