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[Mutanthands]

...after a single genetic mutation took hold around 2013:”

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-zika-mutation-microcephaly-20170928-story.html

When the Zika virus was first isolated from a Ugandan forest monkey in 1947 and found in mildly ill humans a few years later, it was hardly worth a mention in the annals of human disease.

What a difference a mutation can make.

In a new round of genetic sleuthing, Chinese researchers have pinpointed the single genetic change that has made the Zika virus a fearsome plague to pregnant women and their babies across the Americas, responsible for thousands of cases of microcephaly and other grievous brain abnormalities that sometimes result in death.

The Chinese researchers also came close to pinpointing the time at which the Zika virus graduated from unwelcome pest status to an international scourge. That change, they surmised, occurred around May 2013, a few months before the start of a two-year outbreak in French Polynesia and three other Pacific islands.

If you want to see how fragile our foothold on Earth is, the article above is key. One single mutation takes hold, and a relatively harmless virus can now kill and maim thousand to millions.

This is why it’s essential that the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control have the freedom and the money to respond to threats like this that can pop up at any time. The current administration’s anti-science bent is one of the many ways they could inadvertently kill us all.

 

[Ivellios]

Meanwhile here in Brazil the government cut about 40% of the funds from science research and many good scientist are leaving the country because of the lack of resources for their research.

 

[Mutanthands]

Meanwhile here in Brazil the government cut about 40% of the funds from science research and many good scientist are leaving the country because of the lack of resources for their research.

Sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine how many scientists around the world are held back by lack of resources, political chaos, or lack of political support.

Will we catch the next pandemic on the level of HIV or the Spanish Flu?

 

[Evil Monkey DTT]

It's funny, every year there's been a massive virus scare but now that Trump's the president we don't need one to keep watching the news out of fear.

But on topic, hold onto your ass with the antibiotics issue.

 

[Zeus Molecules]

It's funny, every year there's been a massive virus scare but now that Trump's the president we don't need one to keep watching the news out of fear.

But on topic, hold onto your ass with the antibiotics issue.

No this was and is legit scary though some places worried way more than they should

 

[Pagusas]

I’ve got to read up more on this if my wife and I decide to try having a baby.