The fight against Zika: Doing it right

If you want an excellent article on how Brazil is trying to get rid of the mosquitos that spread the zika virus, check out MomJones.

aside form the usual things, the guy in charge of the fight seems to know how they live in the slums, because they are inspecting houses:

There's no privacy when it comes to Zika: As part of the government's Aedes aegypti eradication plan, federal health agents have been going door to door to inspect backyards and educate the public. Ever since Rousseff signed a new ruleinto law in January, these agents have been allowed to force their way into public and private buildings—including people's homes—to search for mosquito breeding sites if no one answers the door after two separate visits. If necessary, the police can be called upon to help gain entrance.

The reason? I don't know about Brazil, but often poor people keep buckets of water in their houses to wash up and flush the toilet. You see, often the public water pressure is low, and some don't have running water, so borrow the water from a neighbor.

There are also puddles from water run off that might have to be corrected, and simple garbage like cans or husks from coconuts can have enough water for the bugs to breed.

Here, I have to keep an eye on the animals food and water dishes...even my flower vases have little wigglers in them after the third day if I don't change water.

and I had to laugh at this:

Poor Brazilians are more affected by microcephaly, and officials aren't sure why:Microcephaly, the most severe condition so far associated with Zika, seems to be impacting the poor more intensely

Really? Maybe because they don't have money for insect repellant, screens on their doors, and they live in neighborhoods with lots of places (including poor drainage leading to puddles) that will let the mosquitos grow.

and when you are poor and overwhelmed with the problems of living, sometimes you get careless and don't use repellant or mosquito nets all the time. You just accept fate.

And there are lots of comments about GM Mosquitoes by the usual crazies.

Here is an article about GM mosquitos that give some background on their use.

and they point out the hysteria by the local anti western paranoids (read commies) and the anti western mullas (read ignorant but who read the UKGuardian) and the crazies in the NGO's who hate anything new, never mind all those kids dying of malaria and dengue fever:

The lessons that have been learnt from the GM crop controversy in Europe and North America would suggest that for GMMs to be acceptable for malaria control, scientists need to involve the public prior to trials, as well as during the research process and the development of such sophisticated tools [7]. There is much speculation surrounding genetic modification from pressure groups in various parts of the world and most misconceptions are a result of lack of accurate information. For example, Oxford Insect Technologies (Oxitec) faced a backlash from non-governmental organizations and the public in the case of release of sterile Ae. aegypti in the Cayman Islands [7]. Oxitec was criticized for their financial interest to public health by dealing with GMMs as a commercial product and releasing the GMMs before international regulations were set [7, 11]. Oxitec was also accused of not publicly announcing the releases in the Cayman Islands and deliberately conducting the release in secret and then publishing the release after a one year delay [7, 12]. GMMs generate debate in many parts of the world because of the prospect of releasing flying transgenic organisms into the environment. Before a field trial is conducted, it is imperative to find out the attitudes and concerns of people towards the potential release of GMMs. Through better communication and transparency prior to a release in Africa, such controversies like that generated by the release in Cayman Islands could be avoided.