The spread of a once-rare disease that causes birth defects - and which may also be linked to cases of another paralyzing disease is almost certainly related to mankind's destruction of ecosystems. The disease - Zika virus is spreading rapidly throughout the world, with more than a dozen cases having now been reported in the United States. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to a rise in cases of microcephaly, a horrific birth defect that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and brain damage.
Scientists are also investigating a possible link between the virus and the contraction of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease that can cause paralysis and long-term nerve damage. Zika virus has infected more than one million people in Brazil, and is expected to spread throughout the Americas, even though the disease was virtually unheard of in the Western Hemisphere until…
