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WHO: Zika No Longer a World Health Emergency (usatoday.com)
The mosquito-borne Zika virus that causes microcephaly and other birth defects is no longer a world health emergency, according to the World Health Organization. It is a virus that requires a long-term approach. USA Today reports: By downgrading the emergency status for Zika, the organization will now shift to a longer-term approach for fighting the virus that has spread across Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond. Zika was also found in parts of the Miami area. The virus "is not going away," WHO said on Twitter. "Countries need to be prepared and strengthen detection and prevention, as well as care and support for people." Nearly 30 countries have reported birth defects linked to the virus. WHO, which designated the health emergency in February, says more than 2,100 cases of nervous-system malformations have been reported in Brazil alone. The virus continues to spread geographically to areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are established, the organization noted. Most people who are infected by the virus do not get sick, but can suffer fever, rash and joint pain. The virus, however, can cause birth defects, including microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development.
Yeah, the interview I heard with a WHO guy he was emphasizing that this is not so much a "downgrade" as a change in status. The emergency has emerged, not gone away.
Someone had to do it.
If someone is infected by Zika and returns to health, can that person still infect others? Nothing I've read about Zika answers that.
Uh.. The World Health Organization?
The world has a whole bunch of ongoing disasters, so it sounds like they're simply reclassing Zika as one of those.
It's probably worth noting that Zika is still spreading actively in Florida, at present the CDC is recommending against pregnant women avoid traveling to Miami-Dade if they can, although the red zone (area of high intensity transmissions) is considerably smaller.
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It's all relative.
Zika is still extremely dangerous but now there's something even worse to worry about for anyone living in a climate south of new york.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
Zika or not, that's just sound advice.
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Zika already mutated to become an STD but it could easily mutate to become more infectious and be less noticeable by the host. My fear is that it will become even more prevalent as HPV but will go completely unnoticed until several women in the next generation start having children with defects. This scenario would be devastating for all mankind.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Did they ever find out if there was any validity to the claim that Zika has been around for a long time but only recently is being accused of causing birth defects when in reality it's some pesticide or something?
I used to go to FL on business for many years, although not that often to Miami. I'll tell you one reason that's worth a visit: the Cuban sandwiches.
I've had them outside of South Florida, but it's usually a shadow of the real thing; like comparing pizzas from a national chain to pizzas from a wood-fired NYC neighborhood pizzeria.
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and more afraid of numskulls who don't understand science and disaster response and will take this to mean Zika was never a threat. A lot of stuff about the coming US Presidential Administration scares me but the thought of Trump putting cronies in charge of this sort of thing instead of experts is pants shittingly terrifying...
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My guess is they elevated concern due to the mass influx of people to Brazil due to the olympics. Wanted everyone to be prepared. After a few months, when the major risk was gone, they reduced concern again.
That is, the influx of a bunch of people from all over the world added to the danger of a serious epidemic.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
You make an important point. Cuban sandwiches are terrific. Now that we can go to Cuba for a Cuban sandwiches, there's no need to take the risk of setting foot anywhere in the state of Florida.
By the way, there's a truck here in Houston a short bike ride from my house that serves a Cuban sandwich every bit as good as the ones I've had in South Florida. I'm sitting here salivating just thinking about one of those sandwiches. Best lunch deal in all of Houston, too.
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NYC...Pizzeria
NYC...Pizzeria
NYC...Pizzeria
Nope, not seeing the connection between those two words.
Then you've been to Keste's, Patsy's, or Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh yes, I have studied this topic seriously. I have notebooks.
It's not that you can't get good wood-fired Neapolitan style pizza outside NYC, it's just that in NYC it's commonplace and in most other cities that style is rare or non-existent. Most pizza in the US is actually Greek-style pizza (baked in a pan), which produces a bread-like crust, uses American style mozzarella (made with cow's milk instead of buffalo milk, so technically it's not mozz but fior di latte), and uses a heavily tomato paste based sauce heavy on the dried oregano. Greek pizza is not necessarily bad pizza, but it has less character. You'd never stand in line at a pizzeria serving that style because chances are there's another pizzeria down the street that serves an almost indistinguishable pie.
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I'm from Chicago. It's hard to find pizza that impresses me.
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Zika is mainly spread by mosquito isn't it?
I am sure the blizzard we had yesterday took out all the remaining mosquitos around here.
It's incredible how misleading this headline is. Technical terminology confuses the lay public once again.
I like all kinds of pizza. I'm not one of those people who says it has to be done just one way. The pizza I grew up with as a city kid was thick sheet pizza sold by the square, which as a kid you could afford. It's still one of my favorites if you can find a place that does it well, which isn't easy.
As for NYC pizza -- Neapolitan is the default style, and competition has created very good examples of that style. It's a bit like getting a cheese steak in Philly. There's nothing particularly rocket-sciency about a cheese steak, but because of competition shops will upgrade the meat, and perhaps most importantly the bread which is nearly always overlooked outside of Philly. Where pizza competition is fierce you'll see upgrades in the sauce; if you can taste canned sauce it's not going to cut it. For Neapolitan pizza there's actually a huge variation in crusts. There's limp (which is one of the few variations that is unambiguously bad), but there's also cracker-like or biscuit-y. My favorite examples remind me a bit of a good baguette -- crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which is really, really hard to do when the crust is thin.
Visiting Chicago for the pizza is on my bucket list. The only Chicago style pizza we have up here in New England is the Uno chain, which I refuse to visit because I don't want a chain to be my first experience of the style. Turning a pizzeria into a chain never works. Here in Boston probably the best old-school Neapolitan pizza is Pizzeria Regina in the North End, but they've licensed the Regina name to suburban restaurants and even mall food courts, with predictable results.
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Well, It's the World Health Organization not the Upper Latitudes Health Organization, so....
Someone had to do it.
The only Chicago style pizza we have up here in New England is the Uno chain, which I refuse to visit because I don't want a chain to be my first experience of the style.
Good decision, because Uno pizza is absolutely horrible.
Yeah, don't to Uno. Chicagoans don't go to Uno.
You let me know when you're going to Chicago, and I'll hook you up with a neighborhood spot that'll take good care of you. Plus, while you're there you can get the low-down on point spreads and get a slightly-illegal bet down on a race at Arlington.
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Pretty much.
it has gone from
Epidemic
to
Endemic
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