We should not judge all mosquitoes because of a few bad ones | Eastern NC Now

    Every time I turn on the news, I hear about a very mild virus that is moving into the United States from South America. It is spread through mosquitoes bites and possibly sexual contact with an infected person. It has been designated as the ZIKA Virus.

    Zika Symptoms

• About 1 in 5 people infected with Zika virus become ill (i.e., develop Zika).
• The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes). Other common symptoms include muscle pain and headache. The incubation period (the time from exposure to symptoms) for Zika virus disease is not known, but is likely to be a few days to a week.
• The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week.
• People usually don't get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.

    Zika virus usually remains in the blood of an infected person for about a week but it can be found longer in some people.

    The virus is particularly dangerous for pregnant women and the media is providing ongoing updates about what to do if a pregnant woman suspects that she is infected with the virus. They are also offering advice on how to prevent infection by sex. I am in total agreement with gaining control over this virus and it's transmission. We should make every effort to locate preventive measures as well as possibly a vaccine to prevent it.

    I only wish we could apply the same amount of concern and prevention to potential terrorists that may be coming into the United States from our southern border. The media is providing information on how to eliminate Mosquitoes and to control the population by eliminating standing water and other measures. I am not aware that the mosquito has announced their intention to kill and infect the entire population of the United States. It may be just what they do. I certainly don't want to offend any mosquito that is just going about its business spreading malaria or some other disease that we think we have eradicated.

    I am waiting for the POTUS to announce that not all Mosquitoes are bad, just a few of them pose a potential problem and then only for pregnant women. Let us not over react to this invasion and cause a backlash by the lowly Mosquito. Let us not confuse ISIS / ISIL (Google for the distinction between the two) with ZIKA, they are two or maybe three totally different things.

Submitted by Bobby Tony, The unofficial roving Smarta$$ reporter