Zika. How can we stop the spread of this devastating virus?

Are you aware that simply breathing can attract mosquitoes? Yes, mosquitoes are drawn to carbon dioxide, which you release when you exhale. Additionally, people give off two mosquito attractants – body heat and lactic acid (a substance your body emits when you perspire).

On February 1st, the World Health Organization (WHO) took the unusual step of declaring an international public health emergency regarding the mosquito-borne Zika virus and its suspected link to the birth defect microcephaly. And April brought reports that Zika might be related to other neurological disorders in adults, including two types of encephalitis and a spinal cord inflammation called myelitis.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito carries the virus. Zika gets its name from the Zika Forest of Uganda, where the virus was first isolated in 1947. There were few cases of Zika in humans until 2007, when an outbreak occurred in Micronesia. Since then, there have been outbreaks in 2013 (French Polynesia) and 2014 (New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Easter Island). The current one in Brazil represents the first widespread event in the Western Hemisphere.

The virus can be spread from the bite of the mosquito, but it was also found in blood and semen. This is crazy!  So how can you help protect yourself?  Here are the CDC guidelines:

• Avoid traveling to any of the areas where Zika is circulating; visit the CDC website for the latest list (and prevention advice). If you have visited one of them, don’t donate blood for a month after your return.
• If you can’t avoid going to one of these regions, avoid mosquitoes and their bites: Use an EPA-registered insect repellent with DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), or IR3535 (these are safe for pregnant and breast-feeding women to use, but not for babies under two months old); wear clothing with long pants and long sleeves; sleep in a room with air conditioning (or under a mosquito net if you’re outdoors).
• If your partner/spouse has been to an area with Zika, the CDC recommends using condoms (but doesn’t specify for how long; it’s not known how long the virus might survive in semen). Public Health England recommends that men who’ve traveled to Zika hotspots use condoms for a full month upon their return.
• In particular, pregnant women should always use a condom when having sexual contact with a man who has been in a Zika-infected area.
• If you do come down with Zika, try to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes to protect others from getting your illness (mosquitoes can pick up the infection from your blood and pass it on).

A private company, SC Johnson, makes a devise called OFF Clip-on. Studies have shown the devise kills and knocks down mosquitoes while the wearer is mostly stationary.

One other note is the Cerus Corporation (CERS). It is a biomedical products company focused on improving blood transfusion safety.  Its INTERCEPT Blood System is designed to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections that may be present in donated blood.  It is important to note that the company has not received label approval for the specific use in eradicating Zika from a blood sample.  However, there is a growing body of evidence presented by the company in a research paper published in August of last year that its platform could be applicable for treating Zika.

Here are some ETF’s with exposure to Cerus Corp: March 14, 2016.  IWC (1440 holdings), XHE (70 holdings), IHI ( 50 holdings), and PTH ( 53 holdings).  These four ETF’s Algos and info can be found in Exodus.