VIRGINIA (March 17, 2016) –The Zika virus is spreading around the globe, becoming a major health crisis, and now one humanitarian organization is deploying mosquito-eating fish throughout Central America in an effort to stop the epidemic.
The virus has triggered outbreaks in recent months in 41 countries and is transmitted by mosquitos which thrive in pools of standing water. Normally, Zika causes fever and rashes and not much more, but there is a particularly alarming link between the virus and a rare neurological syndrome that can be fatal, Guillain-Barré, as well as an increase of babies born with abnormally small heads.
To combat the mosquitoes, Operation Blessing International, a Christian humanitarian organization based in Virginia, is deploying small gambusia or Sambo fish in cities and villages throughout El Salvador and Mexico. The fish feast on the larva of the Aedes aegypti mosquitos, which carries Zika, dengue and yellow fever.