Is a Zika vaccine being tested ahead of vaccines for other flaviviruses because Zika’s occurring in the context of an international sporting competition?
Christian Bruna/AAP
Recently two events concerning the Zika epidemic coincided: two potential vaccines against the virus were declared a success when used in mice, and Jason Day withdrew from the Olympic Games.
Itchy inflamed mozzie bites help viruses to spread.
Keith/Flickr
Innovations targeted at mosquito control are good but should not draw focus away from the tried and tested public health measures to control mosquito-borne diseases.
A human-dependent mosquito, the range of the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti is projected to grow in the U.S. and affect more people globally.
sanofi-pasteur/flickr
Andrew Monaghan, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
More people in the U.S. and world will be exposed to the disease-carrying mosquito Aedes aegypti, not just because of warmer temperatures but global population changes as well.
Mosquitoes, thousands of mosquitoes! Mosquitoes found in our local wetlands can often overwhelm us but even mosquitoes that have moved into our backyards can cause problems.
Look beyond transgenic techniques that add new genes to a species. People have used selective breeding techniques to change plants and animals for millennia – why not try them on mosquitoes?
How much will it cost to fumigate the streets of Haiti?
Reuters
How does an institution like the World Bank come to put a price tag on a virus like Zika or any other health calamity?
A book about Aedes aegypti mosquitoes is seen next to larvae in a laboratory conducting research on preventing the spread of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, at the Ministry of Public Health in Guatemala City.
Josue Decavele/Reuters
Satellite imaging can locate mosquito-friendly environments, allowing us to predict the advance of diseases they carry.
Even if Zika sometimes causes pregnant mothers to have babies with microcephaly, this does not necessarily mean every infected mother would have an affected baby.
coniferconifer/Flickr
Despite all the hype around Zika, crucial questions remain unanswered. How great is the risk that infection during pregnancy would result in a baby with microcephaly? And what can be done to prevent this?
Sorting pupae of genetically modified mosquitoes before release to the wild.
Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
Insecticides and mosquito nets only get you so far. Synthetic biologists are ready to take the battle against mosquito-borne disease to the level of DNA – which might spell the insects’ ultimate doom.
They spread disease and misery and account for millions of deaths every year. There’s not a lot to be said for mosquitoes.
Municipal workers wait before spraying insecticide to prevent the spread of Aedes aegypti mosquito at Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 26, 2016.
Pilar Olivares/Reuters
Zika was discovered almost 70 years ago, but wasn’t associated with outbreaks until 2007. So how did this formerly obscure virus wind up causing so much trouble in Brazil?
There is little doubt the virus can make it to Australia.
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A good summer picnic, bushwalk or barbecue with friends and family can all be ruined by those annoying flies that never leave you alone. So what are they after?
Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases