UTRGV researchers taking a lead on Zika research

[TexasTowelie]

EDINBURG — Protected by a white lab coat and plastic gloves, Dr. John Thomas, a researcher at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, checked the status of an orange liquid in a plastic container. In that container is the Puerto Rican strain of the Zika virus.

The Rio GrandeValley is considered a likely port of entry for this mosquito-borne virus, and UTRGV researchers are leading efforts to better understand and combat the threat.

Thomas and Dr. Christian Vitek, both researchers and associate professors in the university’s biology department, are working together to better understand the virus and how it could affect the Valley.

“The work and the research is going to be focused here in the Valley,” Vitek said. ¨The concern is this region, and this area is one of the top two or three potential sources of introduction of the disease nationally. … We are adjacent to countries where Zika is being found.”

Read more: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/valley/article_a187510e-4711-11e6-b548-1b098659ccff.html

[Warpy]

1. Not a major port of entry. The southeast is that.

It might be a minor port of entry but once you get far enough away from the coast, the mosquitoes disappear unless you're right at the riverside.

All those people who paid through the nose for a river view will be at risk for Zika, just like they're at risk for other mosquito borne illnesses here in NM.

I think I've seen one mosquito since I've lived here.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I wish that I could say the same in Wharton.

I usually kill about two to three mosquitoes a day sitting at the computer by the window in this apartment and I'm probably about 40 miles away from the Gulf of Mexico.

[Warpy]

3. 40 miles is close. Get out around Big Bend country and they'll thin out a lot

Well, unless you're anywhere near water.