"This research project would not have happened had we not had buy-in and trust from the farmers we worked with," Emily Selland told CG about an effort in Senegal that showed integration of native fish into watery rice fields might curb schistosomiasis risks, which may be affected by climate shifts.
U.N. Women released a statement in late May underscoring concerns that the effects of this outbreak may be disproportionately felt by women, who are often overrepresented in administering care for sick family and community members, increasing risks of infection.
![Global outbreaks are another climate-linked driver of violence against women and girls — but "we know how to keep [them] safe"](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1584931423298-c576fda54bd2?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDJ8fG91dGJyZWFrc3xlbnwwfHx8fDE3Nzk0NzY2NzN8MA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=30)
"We know how to keep women and girls safe in outbreak situations," Lindsay Stark, Co-Director of the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention at Washington University, told CG. "We simply need the political buy-in and financial resources to ensure we do not repeat the mistakes of past responses."
"Just because the RNA is present doesn't mean that that individual is actively infectious," David Safronetz of the Public Health Agency of Canada told Scientific American. Still, the CDC has encouraged people to "[avoid] kissing and sexual contact with someone who may have Andes virus."
With research indicating that gendered differences in diagnosis may contribute to delayed treatment and with rising temperatures enabling ticks to expand their range and lifecycles, an effective vaccine to prevent infection in the first place may be even more important.
"Cesar's actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people," Dolores Huerta wrote in her statement. "We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever."
"It’s hard to imagine the people I met who rely on U.S. drugs for their survival suddenly cut off," New York Times reporter Stephanie Nolen wrote of her recent trip to the northwest region of Zambia in a comment online.
