By engineering mice to mimic the human Zika infection, and using fluorescent biomarkers to tag infection sites, scientists at the Rockefeller University and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology found that adult neural progenitor cells could be hijacked by the virus, leading to brain shrinkage and mental impairment.
"Our results are pretty dramatic - in the parts of the brain that lit up, it was like a Christmas tree," said Professor Joseph Gleeson, head of Laboratory of Pediatric Brain Disease at The Rockefeller University, in a released statement about the new study. "It was very clear that the virus wasn't affecting the whole brain evenly, like people are seeing in the fetus."
Gleeson said in healthy individuals, neural progenitor cells become fully formed neurons and are resistant to Zika, but for some people with weakened immune systems, they may be vulnerable to the virus.
The mature brain, Gleeson said, is learning, and memory that is impacted by Zika could bring about a cognitive decline that is normally associated with Alzheimer's disease or depression. "In the adult, it's only these two populations that are very specific to the stem cells that are affected by virus. These cells are special, and somehow very susceptible to the infection," Gleeson said. "Based on our findings, getting infected with Zika as an adult may not be as innocuous as people think."
Comment: Is this a case of finding a new threat in order to scare a new segment of the population and require more vaccinations to a bogus virus?
Scientists still do not know to what extent the mouse model results apply to humans, or how permanent the brain damage is. "Zika can clearly enter the brain of adults and can wreck havoc," said Sujan Shresta, a professor at the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology. "But it's a complex disease. It's catastrophic for early brain development, yet the majority of adults who are infected with Zika rarely show detectable symptoms. Its effect on the adult brain may be more subtle, and now we know what to look for."
But scientists said it raises the disturbing possibility of long term mental impairment in Zika-infected adults. "The virus seems to be traveling quite a bit as people move around the world," said Gleeson. "Given this study, I think the public health enterprise should consider monitoring for Zika infections in all groups, not just pregnant women."
The epicenter of the current Zika epidemic is Brazil, where the Olympic Games are in full swing in Rio de Janeiro. In February, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern," as evidence grew of Zika's association with birth defects.
The virus is chiefly spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is common throughout the tropical and subtropical Americas. The new findings were published in Cell Stem Cell on August 18.
So Zika has been studied how long? From my understanding a genuine Double Blind independent study takes years and somehow Professor Joseph Gleeson, head of Laboratory of Pediatric Brain Disease at The Rockefeller University, has come to the conclusion that:
"Based on our findings, getting infected with Zika as an adult may not be as innocuous as people think."
Well gosh darn doc. It must be gospel. After all, the Rockefeller Foundation discovered Zika in 1947 patented it and it was such a dangerous and mind destroying virus that one could purchase it online for $516-[Link] There is a discount for non-profit organizations. Here's a copy of the patent:
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Interesting this about Zika is the first major outbreak on Yap Island in 2007-much was made about how the mosquitoes were collected to assess if the Aedes aegypti mosquito species was responsible but this is what was reported in th NEJM:
Zika Virus Outbreak on Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia
N Engl J Med 2009; 360:2536-2543June 11, 2009DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa0805715
The following excerpt:”Entomologic Investigation
Of the 1366 water-holding containers identified during the household survey, 587 (43% [95% CI, 40 to 46]) were infested with mosquito larvae or pupae; infested containers were found at 148 of the 170 households surveyed (87% [95% CI, 81 to 91]). A total of 12 mosquito species belonging to four genera were identified; 9 species were identified by examination of larvae, and an additional 3 species were collected as adults. Aedes hensilli was the predominant species identified and was present in 489 of the water-holding containers (36% [95% CI, 33 to 38]). No other species was present in more than 3% of the containers. No virus or viral nucleic acid could be detected in any mosquito pool.”Extrapolation of the infection rate as determined by IgM anti-ZIKV antibody detected, indicated that 73% of the population of 7200 had been infected in the 2007 outbreak or previous to that. So where did this widespread infection originate? The authors also state: “These results support the conclusion that this outbreak resulted from a recent introduction of Zika virus.”
However this was also reported:
The first major outbreak of Zika virus occurred in April and May 2007 on Yap island, a part of the Federated States of Micronesia in the South Pacific. Of the island’s 7,400 residents, antibodies against Zika were found in 74 percent of the population. No deaths were attributed to ZIKA, and none of the patients were hospitalized. Long-term nerve damage known as Guillaine-Barre Syndrome was reported. In the following year, local health workers reported an increase in cases of microcephaly in newborns, a claim disputed in other reports.
The Yap outbreak was an extraordinary phenomenon for several reasons. Over the past 60 years since its discovery by the Rockefeller Institute in a monkey in the Zika Valley of Uganda, only 14 cases in humans had been reported. The distance from the coast of East Africa to Yap is 11,000 kilometers, and not a single resident of Yap had ever visited Africa. A few Filipinos, presumably medical workers, had contact with Zika virus, but none were reported in Yap.
Yap is an isolated island community making it an ideal “laboratory” for an illegal human experiment and clinical study. The nearest major island is Guam, the former headquarters of the U.S. Naval Research Lab 2, which had since been relocated to Indonesia (where it supplied lab assistants to the notorious “super-flu” researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka at University of Wisconsin). The local health care system is primarily funded with U.S. foreign aid.
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Could it be possible that the Yap Island Zika outbreak was caused by the military doing an illegal human experiment? Investigative reporter Yoichi Shimatsu articles seem to point to this.
Yoichi Shimatsu investigative reporter articles can be found here:
-CDC-Oxford ‘Death Gene’ Is Key To The Brazilian Babies Riddle
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-Genewashing Zika: The Cover-up of Biotech’s Dirty War
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-Gene Warfare on Brazil Infants Has Roots in an African Lab
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-Who Owns Zika Virus? Rockefeller Found…
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