In The News

Is Insecticide Sprayed to Fight Zika a Risk for People and Wildlife?

Andres Viglucci August 15, 2016
Florida is using naled, a pesticide that is reported to target honey bees as well as mosquitoes. “County mosquito-control officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency play down the risks posed by aerial spraying of naled, which has been approved for use against adult mosquitoes in the United States since 1959, but is banned by the European Union,” reports Andres Viglucci for the Miami...

South American Tomato Moth Is Stoking Food Security Fears in Nigeria

Yomi Kazeem May 30, 2016
Nigeria struggles with declining oil prices and currency devaluation, but agriculture, representing 30 percent of the Nigerian economy, is also taking a hit: “Africa’s largest economy is facing a food crisis as major tomato fields have been destroyed by a moth, leading to a nationwide shortage and escalating prices,” explains reporter Yomi Kazeem for Quartz. “The moth, Tuta absoluta, has...

Fighting the Zika Virus

Nayan Chanda February 17, 2016
Over their lifetime Aedes aegypti mosquitoes may not wander more than a few hundred meters from the source where they emerged as larva without human intervention. Still, the range for the insects is widening, and they have a presence on every continent. Mosquitoes are vectors for multiple blood-borne pathogens, including dengue and the Zika virus, and those are also spreading. The World Health...

Can We Stop Mosquitoes From Infecting the World?

Cheryl Katz February 15, 2016
The World Health Organization has declared Zika a global emergency, exploring links to mosquitoes and birth defects, though much is unknown. No vaccine or treatment is available, and immediate efforts focus on mosquito control. Researchers have linked the birth defects with Zika and mosquitoes, while some doctors in Argentina question if a larvicide could be the problem. Mosquitoes are “adapting...

Short Answers to Hard Questions About Zika Virus

Donald G. McNeil Jr, Catherine Saint Louis and Nicholas St. Fleur February 2, 2016
The World Health Organization has declared the mosquito-borne Zika virus a global public health emergency, suggesting that up to 4 million people could be infected this year. The virus, spread by the common Aedes genus of mosquitoes, was identified in Africa in 1947. Brazilian researchers linked the virus with microcephaly in newborns in 2015 – and it not yet known if Zika is the only cause....

WHO: Extremely Alarmed by Zika, Could Reach 4 Million Cases

Tom Miles, Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland January 28, 2016
The World Health Organization is convening an emergency meeting on the Zika virus. Describing the virus as a threat of alarming proportions, WHO officials anticipate it could affect up to 4 million people. The virus has been linked with severe birth defects and stunted brain development. “There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild...

The Smart Way of Healing

Nayan Chanda January 22, 2016
Hospitals face challenges in preventing one patient’s infection from spreading to other patients. Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online, writes about the troubling phenomenon of patients being successfully treated before succumbing to hospital-acquired infections. “This problem is not a uniquely Indian one,” he writes. “Modern hospitals in the developed West are also struggling to...