I am becoming extremely concerned about young people (in their late 20s and 30s) being struck with life-threatening symptoms. And unofficially, I see a strong correlation (geographically) to where Wolbachia-infected Aedes have been released and open bodies of water (which Culex spp. prefer). A friend on Facebook openly appealed for help in solving a mystery illness that her son-in-law is suffering. He's from the San Pedro area of California (well within range of the Wolbachia-infected Aedes releases carried out in 2016 in Fresno, CA). This PSA explains more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsDYyIMNNQo What she told me: He had a minor cold and three days later a swollen inguinal lymph node which progressed to multiple swollen nodes (on palpation) in his abdomen, spleen, and chest. All tests have come back negative so far: Valley Fever, mono, meningitis, Epstein Barr, West Nile, Hep C, HIV/AIDS, hantavirus, malaria, lymphoma & leukemia negative or inconclusive, as were many other tests. He had exploratory surgery and a lymph node biopsy (no results back yet). Then, last night she messaged me that he "just crashed. Pulse ox 87 [normal levels 94 - 99], fever over 102, doctors being paged stat." [I noted that tests for Zika and a broad range PCR screen for Rickettsiales (Wolbachia genes in blood) was not mentioned]. So, I sent her an email to give to his medical team (in hopes it may help). Here is what I wrote: Culex spp. (which are overnight-active) are Zika vectors, proven by several independent research teams. Just a couple of days ago, a team from Mexico published this: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18682-3 Culex tarsalis is a highly competent vector of encephalitis viruses and is most prevalent in California (compared to other regions in the US). Culex spp. can also transmit the nematode work that emits Wolbachia. In fact, the worm is an innocent bystander, the real culprit is the Wolbachia onboard ... Furthermore, Wolbachia inside living nematodes don't cause disease, either. Witness the fact that adult filarias can live in a human host for as long as 14 years without causing much damage ... Clearly, river blindness results from the immune response to the worm's endosymbiont ..." Source: http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2008/01/pathogen-on-boa.html And I show additional studies in my PSA that supports this lone quote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ftAcZRGtM&t= What I believe is may be happening: Zika is acting like a phage, working in tandem with Wolbachia to cause the most devastating effects of Zika targeting the gonads, heart, CNS, optic lobe, and retina. Wolbachia surface proteins may be implicated in making Zika (or perhaps another virus) able to evade the immune system. And Wolbachia competes with our mitochondria and various cell organelles. "One phage could potentially be used to modify a broad range of Wolbachia stains" (Tanaka et al., 2009; Kent and Bordenstein, 2010; Wang et al., 2013). When Culex tarsalis and Culex quinquefasciatus naturally acquired Wolbachia, they were better vectors of West Nile (very related to Zika) and malaria, respectively. Sources: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0002965 http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royprsb/281/1779/20132837.full.pdf According to this post (dated Nov. 21, 2016): http://tower.com.ky/2016/11/florida-key-activist-warns-cayman-islands-residents "The United States Environmental Protection Agency has approved MosquitoMate field trials in four US states, including California, Kentucky, New York and Florida." Of course, mosquitoes get transported to neighboring states rather easily via cargo, shipping containers, and vehicles. And mosquitoes, larvae and eggs will all contain Wolbachia. Rain, wind, and waterways also transport mosquitoes, larvae and eggs. And even dead ones pose a risk since Wolbachia can survive (at least) a week in a dead host — ample time for other organisms and creatures to acquire and spread it. "Wolbachia bacteria were able to survive extracellularly for up to 1 week with no decrease in viability ... were able to reinvade cells and establish stable infections at all time points. The ability of Wolbachia bacteria to survive outside host cells may increase the probability of successful horizontal transfer ..." Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16950898 Oxitec Ltd. made these crucial points on docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0205: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0205-0011 "The potential genetic modification that could result from the use of Wolbachia pipientis is wholly undefined ... and could introduce over 1000 new genes into the target mosquito with unknown consequences." See video for more. And we have evidence that a human can be infected with Wolbachia without any trace of the nematode worm that emits it. An ignored 2015 paper by Chen, Dong, et al. clearly states: "Wolbachia spp. can infect mammalian cells, even human cells in vitro. Horizontal transmission in insects and among helminths occurs via cell–cell invasion, predation and cannibalism, among other possibilities, establishing the potential for horizontal transfer to animals and humans as well. Hence, Wolbachia spp. should be further evaluated as causes of human infection ..." Source: http://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(14)00040-8/fulltext Most Promising Medications For a Wolbachia-Zika Infection (so far): "Rifampicin exhibited an EC50 of 1.3 nM, which was approximately 16.2 fold more potent than that of doxycycline (EC50 = 22 nM), against Wolbachia. Both drugs resulted in killing ~90% of Wolbachia in comparison to vehicle control cell cultures at the end of the 7 day experiment." Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-00322-5?WT.feed_name=subjects_immunology "We further established a relationship between EC50 and baseline infection rate (Fig. S6B) and showed that even at >60% infection, AZ [azithromycin] consistently reduced infection at concentrations 10- to 20-fold below the half-maximal toxicity concentration (TC50) of 53 µM (Fig. S6 A and C). AZ treatment also rescued cell viability (Fig. 3C and Fig. S6D) and decreased viral production (Fig. 3D). Finally, we found that AZ substantially reduced infection in hPSC-derived astrocytes without toxicity at the effective concentration (EC50 15 µM at 72% baseline infection)." Source: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/50/14408.full Both azithromycin and rifampin be taken together in combination. Clinical studies indicate the safety and efficacy of using the combination of the drugs in a variety of diseased states. I hope you find this information useful. Most respectfully, Rose Webster Authors note: I cannot use italics or hyperlink. Ergo, links are not hidden. How your signature helps: each time a supporter signs our petition, an email is automatically sent directly to those being petitioned (governments, companies and individuals). When hundreds or even thousands of emails arrive in their inboxes, our message is impossible to ignore.