LACTOBACILLUS ACIDOPHILUS: Overview, Uses, Side Effects ...

Protect Against Mosquito Bites And The Viruses They Carry

Aug. 24—Warm and rainy weather means more people get bitten by mosquitoes. The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) is sounding the alarm over mosquito bites and the viruses they can spread.

One of the viruses carried by certain types of mosquitos causes Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). While a rare disease, EEE can cause severe illness and death. No vaccine and no specific treatments are available for EEE. Two cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in humans have been reported in Baldwin County in the past few weeks, including one fatality.

To avoid mosquito bites:

* Use insect repellents.

* Wear long sleeves and long pants when possible.

* Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothes.

* Treat clothing with repellents.

* Use air conditioning or screens on windows and doors.

Learn about travel-related health risks and recommendations at wwwnc.Cdc.Gov/travel

* .

Mosquitoes tend to lay eggs near standing water, so it's important to keep an eye on standing water.

Officials suggest once a week:

* Empty and scrub, turn over, cover, or throw out any items that hold water. These include tires, buckets, planters, toys, pools, birdbaths, or trash containers. Tightly cover buckets, cisterns, and rain barrels.

* If a container has no lid, cover with wire mesh with holes. Holes need to be smaller than an adult mosquito.

* If you have a septic tank, repair cracks or gaps.

* Use larvicides

* If a body of water is large

* If water will not be used for drinking

* It cannot be covered or dumped out.

Go to the ADPH mosquito-borne diseases webpage:https://www.Alabamapublichealth.Gov/mosquito/ and https://www.Cdc.Gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-bites/prevent-mosquito-bites.Html to learn how to help prevent mosquito bites.

Urgent Warning As One In Five Men Now Infected With Potentially Cancerous Virus – And Most Will Have No Idea

ONE in five men globally are infected with a potentially cancerous virus, scientists have discovered.

They found 21 per cent of men aged 15 and over have at least one high risk human papillomavirus (HPV).

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Boys are being infected with HPV soon after their first sexual activityCredit: Science Photo Library - Getty

HPV is sexually transmitted but - because it doesn't tend to cause symptoms or problems - most people don't even know they have it.

There are about 200 different strains of the disease, most of which are harmless and resolve on their own.

But two strains - HPV16 and HPV18 - can trigger genital, cervical, head, neck, throat and mouth cancer.

In response to the findings, published in the Lancet Global Health journal, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that more must be done to reduce the risk for men and curb the spread of infection.

In the UK, a HPV vaccine, which protects against some of the risky forms of the disease, is offered to girls and boys aged 12 and 13 in school Year 8. 

Girls have been offered the jab since 2008, while boys were added into the programme in 2019 in the hope that HPV-related cancer cases would fall dramatically in the future.

After the systematic review, which analysed the health data of 44,000 men across 65 previous studies, the international team of researchers estimated that one in three men globally are infected with genital HPV.

The findings also suggested one in five had a "high risk", potentially cancerous form of the disease.

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Infection rates overall were high among men aged 15 to 19 - suggesting they are being infected with the bug soon after their first sexual activity.

Recent government figures showed that HPV vaccine coverage decreased by seven per cent in Year 8 girls and 8.7 per cent in Year 8 boys in 2021 to 2022, when compared to the previous academic year.

If a school child misses their doses, you can speak to the school jab team or GP surgery to book as soon as possible.

What is HPV?

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the name of a very common group of viruses.

They don't cause any problems in most people, but some types can cause genital warts or cancer.

HPV doesn't usually cause symptoms so most people don't even realise they have it.

But sometimes the virus can cause painless growths or lumps around your vagina, penis or anus - these are called genital warts.

HPV can affect your mouth, throat and genital area.

It tends to be transmitted through sex and you don't need to have penetrative sex to get it.

You can get it from:

any skin-to-skin contact of the genital area

vaginal, anal or oral sex

sharing sex toys

Some types of the virus can cause abnormal changes in the cells that can sometimes turn into cancer.

Aside from head and neck cancer, high-risk HPV is also linked to:

HPV testing is part of cervical screening, which is offered to all women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64 to identify and protect against cervical cancer.

Some sexual health clinics may offer anal screening to men with a higher risk of developing anal cancer, such as men who have sex with men.

You can't fully protect yourself against HPV but condoms can go some way towards protecting you. 

The HPV vaccine will safeguard you against most types of the virus, but not all.

Source: NHS 

New Rapid Test For Deadly Mosquito-borne Virus

University of the Sunshine Coast researchers have developed a rapid portable test for one of the world's fastest-spreading mosquito-borne diseases.

With World Mosquito Day on 20 August marking the ongoing battle against dengue fever in tropical and subtropical countries including northern Australia, the UniSC research team is taking its findings to the next level.

UniSC Associate Professor of Molecular Engineering Dr. Joanne Macdonald published their results in Gates Open Research with co-authors Dr. Madeeha Ahmed and Dr. Nina Pollak.

"We developed a rapid test, with results that look similar to a COVID-19 home stick test, for each of the four types of dengue virus," said Dr. Macdonald. They were sensitive enough to detect even small amounts of viral genetic material in mosquitoes using only pipettes (tubes) and a heating block, instead of expensive laboratory equipment.

"Our entire testing process took about 35 minutes on-the-spot, compared to hours of travel time and PCR processing required for current sampling."

She said the innovative method involved a reagent that inactivated the virus during amplification, enabling simpler, quicker and cheaper detection with a higher level of sensitivity than existing stick tests.

"In practical terms, people and authorities in areas with few resources can set a trap and test mosquitos each week, to check whether dengue is present.

"It has the potential to make mosquito screening more accessible, enhancing surveillance and control efforts in countries where dengue is endemic."

The paper was co-authored by researchers from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Queensland Health and The University of Queensland.

Dr. Nina Pollak has since published a collaborative paper in Microbiology Spectrum investigating the potential of using the tests to detect dengue in human serum, plasma and blood.

Adding co-authors from UniSC (Dr. David McMillan and Malin Olsson), Singapore's National Environment Agency, National University of Singapore, UQ and industry partner BioCifer, this paper also supported the advantages of the new method.

"Our tests provided performance and speed without compromising specificity in human plasma and serum and could become promising tools for the detection of high dengue loads in resource-limited settings," Dr. Pollak said.

The team's next goal is to combine each test for the four dengue serotypes into a single test, to further streamline detection.

Dr. Ahmed said the tests aimed to lay the groundwork for future studies focused on actual use and effectiveness in the field.

"We hope the value of our technology will drive interest among users to conduct field trials in regions where the disease is prevalent," she said.

According to the WHO, dengue fever is a painful and deadly disease that infects up to 400 million people every year. It is a viral infection that spreads to people from mosquito saliva infected with dengue viruses. There is no treatment other than for relief of symptoms, which include high fever, head and body aches, nausea and rash.

More information: Madeeha Ahmed et al, Rapid molecular assays for the detection of the four dengue viruses in infected mosquitoes, Gates Open Research (2022). DOI: 10.12688/gatesopenres.13534.2

Nina M. Pollak et al, Rapid Diagnostic Tests for the Detection of the Four Dengue Virus Serotypes in Clinically Relevant Matrices, Microbiology Spectrum (2023). DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02796-22

Citation: New rapid test for deadly mosquito-borne virus (2023, August 18) retrieved 29 August 2023 from https://medicalxpress.Com/news/2023-08-rapid-deadly-mosquito-borne-virus.Html

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