# s-epidemiol: climate change plus Zika, then a behavioral transition, hat burqa- like everywhere ...

<< “In  many ways  the  Zika  outbreak  is  worse  than the  Ebola  epidemic  of 2014-15,” said  Jeremy  Farrar, head of the Welcome  Trust.  “Most  virus  carriers  are  symptomless.  It  is  a  silent  infection  in  a  group  of highly  vulnerable  individuals  –  pregnant  women  –  that  is  associated  with  a  horrible  outcome  for  their babies.” There  is  no  prospect  of a  vaccine  for  Zika  at  present,  in  contrast  to  Ebola,  for  which  several are  now under  trial.  “The  real problem is  that  trying  to  develop  a  vaccine  that  would  have  to  be  tested  on pregnant  women is  a  practical and  ethical nightmare,”  added  Mike  Turner,  head  of infection  and immuno-biology at the Welcome  Trust >>

Robin  McKie. Saturday 30 Jan 2016  20.10  GMT. Zika  virus  could  be  bigger  global  health  threat  than Ebola,  say  health  experts.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/30/zika-virus-health-fears

<<
What we know

No vaccine exists to prevent Zika virus disease (Zika).

Prevent Zika by avoiding mosquito bites (see below).

Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus bite mostly during the daytime.

Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses.
>>

Zika virus. Prevention. 13/03.2016

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/index.html

# s-epidem: diurnal mosquitoes with Zika virus inside

<< Experts are concerned that the illness, which is increasingly linked to a disorder that causes paralysis, may become a problem in the U.S. >>

Dina Fine Maron. Zika Disease: Another Reason to Hate Mosquitoes.  October 8, 2015

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/zika-disease-another-reason-to-hate-mosquitoes/

A new global map highlights places #Zika could spread

https://twitter.com/ScienceNews/status/690677908927598593

Meghan Rosen. Rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas raises alarm. Mosquito-borne disease linked to birth defect is pushing northward from Brazil. 3:08PM, January 22, 2016

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rapid-spread-zika-virus-americas-raises-alarm

# life: to save Western lifestyle from a catapulting collapse (caused by one or two Wuhan "achoo") use a techno mask (e.g. "cowboy" or "burqa" techno masks)

<< WHEN YOU LOOK at photos of Americans during the 1918 influenza pandemic, one feature stands out above all else: masks.  (..)  Newspapers published instructions for sewing masks at home. >>

<< After the 1918 pandemic, the prophylactic use of masks among the general public largely fell out of favor in America and much of the West. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has almost never advised healthy people to wear masks in public to prevent influenza or other respiratory diseases. In the past few months, with medical supplies dangerously diminished, the CDC, US surgeon general Jerome Adams, and the World Health Organization have urged people not to buy masks, paradoxically claiming that masks are both essential for the safety of health care workers and incapable of protecting the public from Covid-19. >>

<< Recently, some experts have disputed this contradictory advice. They propose that widespread use of masks is one of the many reasons why China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have controlled outbreaks of coronavirus much more effectively than the US and Europe. "Of course masks work," sociologist Zeynep Tufekci wrote in a New York Times editorial. "Their use has always been advised as part of the standard response to being around infected people." Public health expert Shan Soe-Lin and epidemiologist Robert Hecht made a similar argument in the Boston Globe (..) Last week, George Gao, director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that America and Europe are making a "big mistake" by not telling the public to wear masks during the ongoing pandemic. >>

<< N95s (N95 mask) are so-named because they filter out 95 percent of particles with a diameter of 0.3 microns, (..) Particles 0.3 microns wide are just the right size to ride a stream of air through a filter’s fibrous maze, but it is still possible to thwart them with enough twists and turns.>>

<< the bacterium that causes anthrax is 0.8 microns wide and 1.4 microns long, whereas influenza viruses and coronaviruses are usually between 0.08 and 0.12 microns. But microbes expelled from someone’s respiratory tract are rarely naked: the droplets they travel in range in size from 0.6 to more than 1,000 microns. >>

<< Although surgical masks are not tightly sealed like N95s, the filters they contain are still a major impediment to microbes. The CDC and other health agencies often say that surgical masks catch only spurts of bodily fluids and very large respiratory droplets, and that they cannot filter tiny infectious particles. But this is simply not true. >>

<< Because so many trials find only a marginal benefit or none at all, some health agencies have decided against recommending masks to the general public. But the inconsistency of randomized trials does not negate the robust physical evidence that masks block respiratory droplets and microbes.  >>

<< "To be honest, it’s common sense," says Tang (virologist Julian Tang). "If you put something in front of your face, it’s going to help more than not." If enough people wear masks at least somewhat correctly at least some of the time, the overall benefits could be dramatic. A 2011 review of high-quality studies found that among all physical interventions used against respiratory viruses-including handwashing, gloves, and social distancing-masks performed best, although a combination of strategies was still optimal. >>

It's Time to Face Facts, America: Masks Work. Official advice has been confusing, but the science isn't hard to grok. Everyone should cover up. Wired. Ideas. March 30, 2020.

https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-to-face-facts-america-masks-work/

Also 

a funky, immediate approach of the sneezing from Wuhan (a relative safe barrier - this device is NOT a filter) FonT.  Mar 20, 2020

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2020/03/life-funky-immediate-approach-of.html

Also

climate change plus Zika, then a behavioral transition, hat burqa- like everywhere ... FonT.  Mar13, 2016.

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2016/03/s-epidemiol-climate-change-plus-zika.html

Also

keyword 'virus' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=virus

keyword 'virus' in Notes (quasi- stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=virus

keyword 'snake' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=snake

keyword 'bat' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=bat

# gst: retooling viruses

<< New research reveals that the way viruses were perceived in terms of their architecture will need to be retooled, because they are actually structured in many more patterns than previously understood. The findings could have significant impact on how they are classified, our understanding of how they form, evolve and infect hosts, and strategies to identify ways to design vaccines to target them. >>

Why viruses like Herpes and Zika will need to be reclassified, and its biotech impact. San Diego State University. Sep 27, 2019.    https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/sdsu-wvl092519.php  

<<  improved imaging techniques have revealed increasing numbers of viral outliers >>

<< The polyhedral layouts describing the quasiequivalent capsid structures in CK-theory (Caspar, D. L. & Klug, A. theory) also occur in other areas of science, (..) The conceptual framework for the classification of icosahedral and octahedral polyhedral layouts presented here is therefore of interest for a wide range of scientific disciplines beyond virology. >>

Reidun Twarock, Antoni Luque.  Structural puzzles in virology solved with an overarching icosahedral design principle. Nature Comm. volume 10, Article number: 4414 Sep 27, 2019.   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12367-3  

# gst: NS3, how viruses self-cripple their genome replication machinery

<< An interdisciplinary team of researchers (..) has used computational chemistry, biochemistry and virology to uncover new information on how viruses such as West Nile, dengue and Zika replicate. Based on their research, the team said these viruses appear to cripple their own genome replication machinery.  >>

<< Nonstructural Protein 3 - or NS3 - in flaviviruses, (..) cause a number of diseases in humans. NS3 is a key enzyme that these viruses use to copy their genomes. >>

<< Most vaccines are developed by finding random mutations that slow down virus growth, (..) By understanding how viral enzymes like NS3 work in great detail, we can use that information to rationally design new mutant viruses that replicate less well and act better as a vaccine, without having to rely on chance to make the vaccine. This can help develop vaccines more rapidly and precisely. >> Brian Geiss.

New details on how a viral protein puts the brakes on virus replication. Colorado State University.  Feb 7, 2020.

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-02-viral-protein-virus-replication.html

Kelly E. Du Pont, Russell B. Davidson,  et al. Motif V regulates energy transduction between the flavivirus NS3 ATPase and RNA-binding cleft. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 295, 1551-1564. Feb 7, 2020.

http://m.jbc.org/content/295/6/1551

Also

keyword 'NS3 enzyme' in ncbi

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/?term=NS3+enzyme