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How Scared Should You Be About Zika?
By MICHAEL T. OSTERHOLM
JAN. 29, 2016
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Zika is here to stay in the Western Hemisphere; it will be part of life for many years to come. Even if we make vector control efforts a major initiative, it will only reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of Zika. What we need next, urgently, is a vaccine.
Some critics are suggesting that such vaccine research for Zika should have been done years ago, but this isn?t entirely fair. It was only in the past two years that there was any indication this virus could cause serious human disease. Now we have to catch up. But it?s going to be complicated. If Guillain-Barr? syndrome is indeed caused by the patient?s immune response to the virus, as happens with other infectious diseases, could the vaccine itself put us at risk? This will take careful research to determine. And it will take time.
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By MICHAEL T. OSTERHOLM
JAN. 29, 2016
...
Zika is here to stay in the Western Hemisphere; it will be part of life for many years to come. Even if we make vector control efforts a major initiative, it will only reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of Zika. What we need next, urgently, is a vaccine.
Some critics are suggesting that such vaccine research for Zika should have been done years ago, but this isn?t entirely fair. It was only in the past two years that there was any indication this virus could cause serious human disease. Now we have to catch up. But it?s going to be complicated. If Guillain-Barr? syndrome is indeed caused by the patient?s immune response to the virus, as happens with other infectious diseases, could the vaccine itself put us at risk? This will take careful research to determine. And it will take time.
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