Pandora’s Box: How GM Mosquitos Could Have Caused the Zika Virus Outbreak

[Warpy]

1. It is extremely unlikely, Zika's a pretty old virus, identified in 1947

and probably around for far longer than that, predating any GM mosquitoes, critters that are altered to produce sterile males to cut their reproductive ability way down overall. Females are the ones that do the biting.

At this point, it's only been implicated in the explosion of microcephalic births, a definitive link hasn't been established nor has the mechanism been identified. Cases in Brazil prior to 2015 were 150 per year, +/- 20. Last year there were 3500+ cases.

Zika hasn't been a problem until now, the virus causing little to no illness in infected people, so the tests for it aren't particularly reliable and no vaccine has been in the works. If it is identified as the cause of the extreme spike in cases of microcephaly, you can bet there will be a crash program to produce such a vaccine.

There has also been an uptick of Guillain-Barré cases, tentatively linked to the use of aspirin or other NSAIDs like ibuprofen to reduce the aches and fever in people with more severe illness. If you live in the deep south and get the flu with red eyes and joint pain, treat it with Tylenol, instead.

Zika is expected to hit the Gulf states sometime this spring or early next summer.