Thread by @NathanGrubaugh

Mosquitoes 🦟 can get infected with #Zika virus 🦠 by breeding is sites where infected people peed 🚽?

WTF? I can't even... 🤔

https://twitter.com/ArboNews/status/1110232744875954177

2/n Ugh, so many questions, that (reluctantly) I think that this requires a thread.

Here's a direct link to the paper is you want to play along at home.👇
nature.com/articles/s4146…

3/n My first question - is Zika virus even f-ing infectious from urine, and if so, for how long? Welp, I guess it is - for about a day at 28C (longer at 37C).

4/n At this point, I imagine that the drunk grad students were like, "what if we get a bowl of Zika piss, and using an eye dropper, add it to Aedes pupae to see if it infects them?"

5/n And low, some of the damn pupae got infected. But note - not many, like only ~3% when they added 20PFU/mL of Zika piss.

6/n Grad student: "Now [/hands beer to a friend], can the Zika piss-infected mosquitoes transmit the virus to a mouse, completing the piss-fection cycle?"

And, can't make this shit up, 3/20 transmitted...

7/n But clearly, as everyone knows, Zika piss cannot survive sewage, the natural habitat for Zika piss...

oh, it does.

8/n Grad student: "But, but, but [/cracks open 17th beer, spills most of it], can sewage piss-fected mosquitoes that bite a mouse cause a high enough viremia in a mouse, to infect non-piss exposed mosquitoes upon regular ole blood feeding?"

yup.

9/n Important caveat: If you want to infect mosquitoes with Zika virus via your urine, you need good kidneys, avoid acid foods like fish & soda, steer clear of UTIs, because if that pH gets low, say good bye to the virus.

10/n But if that happens, they got you covered. Just drink some baking soda and you'll get that pH back up in no time 👏

11/n Thus, lets all update our slides with the true Zika virus transmission cycle:

12/n For real, this is dumb. Likely super inefficient and I'd be shocked if this ever happened in nature. Is there really sewage floating around with 20PFU/mL of Zika piss? Maybe..? Please don't check the bucket in my back yard.

I'll go back to my 🥃 now.