Hola MaHigh-School - February 2020

Yellow Fever: The disease is caused by yellow
fever virus and is spread by the bite of an infected
female mosquito. In 2013, yellow fever
resulted in about 127,000 severe infections and
45,000 deaths, with nearly 90 percent of these
occurring in African nations (from Wiki).
ZIKA Virus: Has been around since 1947. However,
in early 2015, a widespread epidemic of
Zika fever, caused by the Zika virus in Brazil,
spread to other parts of South and North America.
It also affected several islands in the Pacific,
and Southeast Asia. Zika can cause birth defects
as well as neurological problems.
What can be done: Vaccines are being developed,
but the ‘better’ method is our own body.
Wiki says: “The skin of animals, prevents many
types of viruses from infecting the host.
The acidity of the contents of the stomach destroys
many viruses that have been swallowed.
A special hormone called interferon is produced
by the body when viruses are present, and this
stops the viruses from reproducing by killing
the infected cell and its close neighbours.
Inside cells, there are enzymes that destroy the
RNA of viruses.
Some blood cells engulf and destroy other virus
infected cells.
It is not doom and gloom all of it