Health

No Zika virus in Michigan, experts say — yet

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – The Zika virus will likely reach Michigan, but it won’t be the mosquitoes that bring it, health officials say. The mosquitoes that carry the virus, Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus, “live predominantly in tropical areas,” said Josh Meyerson, medical director for the Department of Health of Northwest Michigan. Zika instead poses a threat to Michigan if someone contracts the virus elsewhere during a vacation and brings it here. While there are no confirmed cases of the virus in Michigan, it may be just a matter of time. “It is likely that we will have confirmed cases of the Zika virus in Michigan,” said Jennifer Eisner, public information officer for the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Environment

Efforts to boost Lake Huron herring threatened by fish disease

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Algae blooms, overfishing and invasive species depleted once thriving schools of Great Lakes herring. Now Michigan officials want to bring them back in Lake Huron. But there’s a new concern – lake herring are highly susceptible to an emerging fatal fish disease. Researchers found that lake herring are prime targets for Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus. It causes organs, skin and muscles to hemorrhage.