Zika Virus (travel alert)

i'm in Hollywood Florida now. I checked with our Health Dept. before leaving. I am 66 years old so pregnancy is not a factor. They said that I might feel little over tired if I am bitten. But hey. I'm babysitting a two year old so I'm going to be tired regardless. I dose the g-son up w/repellant before taking him to the playpark in the mornings but we really haven't had a lot of mosquitoes. My son in law says that the affected area of Miami has planes flying overhead. Maybe that's why no mosquitoes. They were thick when I first came. This morning had a news story on the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood News about possible Zika damage to adult brains. --s6

mccardey said:

And Singapore is having issues now, as well.

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Given how close we are to Singapore, I'm guessing Zika will soon arrive in Indonesia. Maybe it's already here and we just don't know it. Then, given how rampant mosquitoes are here, I'm guessing it is going to spread like wildfire. Joy.

It's spread by the mosquito that carries dengue, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's already in Indonesia and prob. New Guinea too. If so, it won't be long before it turns up on the Torres Strait islands.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/health/zika-spraying-honeybees/index.html

"On Saturday, it was total energy, millions of bees foraging, pollinating, making honey for winter," beekeeper Juanita Stanley said. "Today, it stinks of death. Maggots and other insects are feeding on the honey and the baby bees who are still in the hives. It's heartbreaking."
Stanley, co-owner of Flowertown Bee Farm and Supplyin Summerville, South Carolina, said she lost 46 beehives -- more than 3 million bees -- in mere minutes after the spraying began Sunday morning.

"Those that didn't die immediately were poisoned trying to drag out the dead," Stanley said. "Now, I'm going to have to destroy my hives, the honey, all my equipment. It's all contaminated."

Stanley said Summerville Fire Capt. Andrew Macke, who keeps bees as a hobby, also lost thousands of bees. She said neither of them had protected their hives because they didn't know about the aerial spraying.

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That's pretty sad. And pretty awful, the lack of thoughtfulness in the approach here.