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Houston's mosquito hunters take on Zika: 'We cannot spray our way out'
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Jessica Glenza in Houston, Texas
@JessicaGlenza
Monday 11 July 2016 07.00 EDT Last modified on Monday 11 July 2016 07.12 EDT
The 7th of January is a date ingrained in Dr Umar Shah?s mind.
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On that day, doctors confirmed a Latin American traveller imported the first case to Texas.
?These are dates that are ingrained in our minds,? said Shah. ?This is something we?ve been living for the last four or five months.?
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Shah has shifted funds to begin the Zika response in Harris County and rolled out programs to show people how to protect themselves (largely with bug spray and by emptying standing water). He called for research into Aedes mosquito control, cash to staff his lab, and more academic study of Zika. Experts estimate a vaccine is 10 to 15 years away.
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In Houston, along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the warm, rainy climate is perfect for the endemic Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. More than 4.5 million people live in surrounding Harris County. And it?s a region whose poverty rivals that of hard-hit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with 22.9% of Houston?s residents living in poverty, according to the US Census Bureau and the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat?stica.
?It?s going to Houston, New Orleans, Galveston, Biloxi, maybe Mobile, Tampa, Miami,? said Hotez. ?It?s something we?re still trying to get our arms around.?
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/11/zika-mosquito-hunters-houston-scientists
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Jessica Glenza in Houston, Texas
@JessicaGlenza
Monday 11 July 2016 07.00 EDT Last modified on Monday 11 July 2016 07.12 EDT
The 7th of January is a date ingrained in Dr Umar Shah?s mind.
...
On that day, doctors confirmed a Latin American traveller imported the first case to Texas.
?These are dates that are ingrained in our minds,? said Shah. ?This is something we?ve been living for the last four or five months.?
...
Shah has shifted funds to begin the Zika response in Harris County and rolled out programs to show people how to protect themselves (largely with bug spray and by emptying standing water). He called for research into Aedes mosquito control, cash to staff his lab, and more academic study of Zika. Experts estimate a vaccine is 10 to 15 years away.
...
In Houston, along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the warm, rainy climate is perfect for the endemic Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. More than 4.5 million people live in surrounding Harris County. And it?s a region whose poverty rivals that of hard-hit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with 22.9% of Houston?s residents living in poverty, according to the US Census Bureau and the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat?stica.
?It?s going to Houston, New Orleans, Galveston, Biloxi, maybe Mobile, Tampa, Miami,? said Hotez. ?It?s something we?re still trying to get our arms around.?
...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/11/zika-mosquito-hunters-houston-scientists