Monday, April 25, 2016

Zika virus infection 2015-16 Epidemic - Update #4


Zika virus infection 2015-16 Epidemic
April 12, 2016 Update
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory

The Time is NOW for Some Mosquitoes to Go

This article deals with only one aspect of prevention of Zika virus caused disease, and is the fourth of a series. For previous writings on the subject and to contextualize this writing, see: http://www.paulherscuepidemics.blogspot.com/

When my older son was entering middle school, he and I attended several Bioblitz events, which are 24-hour inventories of all species in a certain area. We got into the concept, after he read a book written by E.O. Wilson, Consilience. He later met Dr. Wilson, exchanged correspondence, joined the Explorer's Club and eventually gave lectures on the concept of the bioblitz. He also had the idea of connecting the E.O. Wilson's Encyclopedia of Life (http://eol.org) project with the Bioblitz events that occur in the National Parks of the USA. If you want to read about how the Bioblitz concept began, please see this link: 

The reason I highlight this concept is to say that my family is and has always been very environmentally friendly. We have worked for and continue to work towards a stable, robust biodiversity, not only for trophy, keystone, or umbrella species, but for all species. Diversity is essential for our own species to survive and thrive.

That said, and as an environmentalist, I believe the time has arrived for us, as a species, to drive into functional extinction a few mosquito species or species groups. The reasons are compelling, rational, ethical, and scientific. I would like to place this topic in context.