Nutrition, Health, and Disease

Kaufui Vincent Wong

• Publisher: Momentum Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781947083158
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Nutrition, Dietics & Bariatrics

The author relates his holistic view of human health within this text. Holistic health has existed for many years in China as well as India, two great Asian civilizations that continue to this day. There is advocacy for the ordinary person to take back control of their daily nutrition and their overall health. Since some of the practices of Big Agriculture and Big Foods seem to be in contradiction to personal health, people need updated guidelines to lead them out of the quagmire that is the food market. This book, the fourth in a mini-series, will be suitable for a nutritional or an epidemiology course, as well as for the general consumer, who desperately needs guidance, especially those of us in the industrialized western nations. Topics covered in the book chapters include Zika, the diseases spread by mosquitoes, smoking, and cancer, two natural plant foods that could be used as therapeutic medicine, and certain practices followed by restaurants that could negatively impact us.

CHAPTER 1

Zika Virus: Facts and Recommendations for Control

Abstract

By the end of January 2016, there were about 4,000 cases suspected to be due to the Zika virus reported in Brazil, and about 4,700 reported in Venezuela. The World Health Organization (WHO) pronounced Zika as a worldwide crisis on February 1, 2016. There are at least four little known facts about the Aedes mosquito, which is the insect vector for the Zika virus. Better dissemination of these facts can help in preventing individuals from being bitten and infected with Zika. In addition, from basic science, it is pointed out other possible methods of virus transmissions. A possible strategy to slow the spread of Zika is also presented.

Keywords

bodily fluids, insect vector, microcephaly, sexual intercourse, virology, Zika

Background

There are millions of viruses in a drop of seawater. It is a tremendous challenge to study all of them, and figure out which ones are pathogenic. This would be one of the reasons for the epidemics that have plagued us humans in recent years. “Current Opinion in Virology” [1] is a reputable and thus profitable journal published by Elsevier. The name gives an idea of the state of the art with regards to virology. It takes time for opinion to be accepted as theory in a practical science, even though there is scientifically collected data.

Viruses and their antibodies that are known to be present in the body for a long time after infection and/or recovery include Dengue Fever virus, Herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV) or chickenpox virus, Epstein-Barr virus, small pox virus, Hepatitis B virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Human Papillomavirus (HPV). “Human Papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). HPV is a different virus compared to the HIV and the HSV (herpes).” [2]. HPV is ubiquitous enough that almost all sexually active men and women become infected at one point in their active periods. There are numerous kinds of HPV. Certain cancers and genital warts are caused by a few types [2]. This paragraph is a short and not comprehensive summary of the pathogenic viruses that are commonly found in human blood.

In 1947, the mosquito-borne flavivirus, Zika virus or ZIKV was first found in a monkey species in Uganda, Africa [3]. In 1969, the Zika virus was isolated from the Aedes mosquitoes in Malaysia [4]. The Zika virus was reported as recently as 2008 in Micronesia, because of the outbreak there [3, 5].

Facts and Deduction

Symptomatology

The year 2016 began with news that the Zika virus, with the mosquito as the disease vector, has been creating havoc in 23 countries and territories (for starters) in the Americas. “For adults, the illness from Zika virus is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week,” said The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [6]. A complete list of symptoms is listed in [6]. The Miami Herald newspaper on January 20, 2016 quoted: “There is no vaccine to prevent the virus and no medicine to treat Zika. The biggest concern is for women of child-bearing age. There is a link between the disease and children with damaged, smaller than normal brains..... microcephaly.” The prognosis is often a short life full of problems for the baby.

The disease is spreading throughout South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Travelers are warned (by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States) against visiting Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela.

Zika has affected people in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. There is even a baby born in Hawaii with microcephaly; the mother spent time in Latin America.

By the end of January 2016, thirty-one cases of the Zika virus have been found in the United States. Most of these cases were a result of persons travelling to another country and returning home with the infection.

One good way to limit spread of the Zika virus is to restrict travel to infected areas, as per the CDC travel advisory. It is necessary to clean up any stagnant water around one’s house and one’s place of work, so that the mosquitoes have no place to breed. Another effective action by everyone is to prevent mosquito bites. Once the virus becomes resident in more than the “critical mass” of persons, it will become endemic via mosquito bites. This is shown by the spread in the countries with travel advisories. By December 19, 2015, there were 2,782 suspected cases and forty deaths blamed on Zika in Brazil [7]. Toward the end of January 2016, there was a report of about 4,000 cases. At about that time in January 2016, Venezuela had reported 4,700 unconfirmed Zika cases [8]. Just like Dengue Fever, this virus spread by the Aedes mosquito vector can be very dangerous.

Unlike the Dengue Fever virus, the Zika virus only lasts at most for 1 week in humans, according to Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Fauci also stated that mosquitoes have no use or purpose on this Earth. Scientists and physicians have not succeeded to halt this kind of disease transmission yet, even after so many years of study and effort based on the infamous malaria. Bill Gates of the Gates Foundation fame had this statement to make regarding mosquitoes. “The mosquito is the most dangerous animal on Earth” [9], and he was only referring to the amount of deaths related to malaria worldwide, which is mainly spread by the Anopheles mosquito. The Aedes mosquito has many common characteristics similar to those of the Anopheles mosquito. However, there are other characteristics of the Aedes mosquito which are specific, and this is the focus of the next subsection.

Vector Behavior

Facts about Aedes mosquito which may not be widely known are outlined as follows:

1. The Aedes mosquito bites at any time of the day or night [10], more so during the day time, unlike the Anopheles mosquito which spreads malaria. Hence, use of mosquito nets over beds may not be very effective in preventing one from Aedes mosquito bites.

2. It prefers humans to other animals [11]. The practice of keeping a pet nearby as a sacrificial victim for the mosquitoes is not going to be effective. In other words, the Aedes mosquito has domesticated humans, and are as comfortable in our houses as they are on the outside.

3. Aedes mosquito can breed in small amounts of water, in vases and plants. One popular garden plant to note is the bromeliad [12, 13]. Even small quantities of water like one tablespoon full of water can hold about 300 eggs of the Aedes mosquito; this makes it important to keep dry every item that can hold water indoors and outdoors.

4. Air-conditioning helps in keeping mosquitoes out via closed windows and doors. However, the mosquitoes thrive at temperatures above 50°F [14]. Almost all air-conditioning spaces for humans are kept at temperatures higher than 50°F. Thus, mosquitoes do live and thrive in most air-conditioned spaces. It is this fact that contributes to the fact that the Zika disease, like Dengue Fever, will hit the well-heeled and the poor alike.

Control of the Virus

The background information about the Zika virus in Malaysia presented earlier (from 1969) implies to this researcher that the Zika virus does not necessary reside long term in the blood of the peoples of Southeast Asia. If it does reside long term in infected person’s blood like some of the other viruses, for example, Dengue Fever virus, then the absence of microcephaly cases so far in Malaysia and other surrounding countries imply that there is probably another mechanism involved in microcephaly, even after the Zika virus were to be linked to microcephaly. In other words, there may be necessary conditions for microcephaly, and there are sufficient conditions that need to be researched and studied further down the road.

In the evening news of BBC America on January 28, 2016 [15], the spokesman from the CDC stated that there was one case of a man infected with Zika, passed it to his wife via intercourse.

The infected man’s wife had not left the United States at all [16]. On February 3, 2016, it was reported that another case of Zika was reported to have been transmitted via unprotected sex in Texas [17]. It may be significant that the Zika virus may be spread via bodily fluids exchange during sexual intercourse. This last point gives the impetus to stop the Zika virus in its tracks at their entry points into the United States, that is, the states of Florida and Texas. Once within these states, the Zika virus may be spread widely and swiftly via sexual intercourse among adults with many sex partners; this last is a statistically common behavior among North Americans. In other words, if the Zika virus can be spread via sex, it will be spread even more by persons with more than one sexual partner at any period of time. To be fair, many sexual relationships are monogamous. However, there are many open relationships among the married, and serious dating and sleeping around among the unmarried. Safe sex (with condoms, etc.) should be practiced, since many infected persons show no symptoms.

The avian-flu virus is found in chicken eggs sold commercially. The bird-flu epidemic which swept through the United States, starting December 2014 and continuing into 2015, caused the warning to be proclaimed to eat eggs that were cooked thoroughly, that is, no runny yolks. Viruses like the H5N1 virus, and HIV, and HPV, can be transmitted via bodily fluids during acts of intimate human interactions. It is suggested that the Zika virus can also be transmitted via bodily fluids exchange during sexual intercourse.

From [18], “the H1N1 flu virus caused a world-wide pandemic in 2009. It is now a human seaso...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Zika Virus: Facts and Recommendations for Control
• Chapter 2 Traditional Practices in Restaurants that Could Be Revived and Some that Should Not
• Chapter 3 Oats for You
• Chapter 4 Regular Physical Exercise of the Asian Variety May Be Kinder to the Joints
• Chapter 5 Majority of World Population Breathe Bad Air, but Nutritional Habit May Be Responsible for Increased Mortality in South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia
• Chapter 6 Dengue Fever, West Nile and Zika Viruses Spread by Mosquitoes and Nutritional Method to Possibly Stop Dengue from Being Fatal
• Chapter 7 Stinging Nettles for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Other Health Benefits
• About the Author
• Index
• Backcover