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In August 2016, multiple reports emerged that Ann Scott, the wife of Florida governor Rick Scott, either owned a mosquito spraying company outright, or owned a major stake in one. The rumor has added fuel to emerging conspiracy theories that Zika is either a hoax, or that it was purposely introduced into the United States to distract from national politics. However, the Zika virus is not only real, but it is making inroads into the United States (and beyond) as travelers bearing the disease arrive within its borders, despite safety warnings. Zika is just one of the millions of viruses and bacteria that mutate and can quickly spread, potentially bringing a pandemic to the world on the level of the bubonic plague, or, more recently, the 1918 influenza outbreak. Diseases can appear or mutate seemingly out of nowhere, and technological advances can bring about unforeseen consequences, as researcher and writer Laurie Garrett detailed in her 1994 book, The Coming Plague. In one chapter, Garrett writes about an outbreak of a mysterious disease that sickened more than 200 attendees of the 1976 American Legion convention at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, eventually killing 25 people. It was dubbed the Philly Killer at first, then Legionnaire's Disease — and traced back to bacteria breeding in the hotel's air conditioning system: That unease has persisted as the world has become far more interconnected and travel has become much more commonplace within a single generation. In the case of Zika, the virus is spread by mosquitos. Although it was first detected in 1947, the disease didn't become a global issue until 2015. According to Dr. Amy Vittor of the University of Florida, the modern world has created a fertile breeding ground for Zika (and other mosquito-borne pathogens) to thrive: In other words, if it's not Zika, there will be something else waiting in the wings, and to work in public health is to constantly be aware of potential pandemics. As cynical as it may sound, the upswing in insect-borne illnesses like Zika means there's money in mosquito eradication — a lot of it. The financial industry, always looking for the next place to invest, naturally landed on pest control, an industry that has shown substantial growth since 2014: That means that investment companies will show pest control services in their portfolios. According to a 17 August 2016 article in FloridaBulldog.org, an independent nonprofit news organization that covers the state, Ann Scott has a large financial stake in a pest control company out of Louisiana (Mosquito Control Services LLC) through a private investment firm that she co-owns: The rumors bear a striking similarity to a story about the Scotts owning (or having a financial interest in) a drug-testing company, which came to light at the same time that the state decided to test the urine of welfare recipients and state workers, at their own expense: While the ethical considerations of the Scotts owning any financial stake in either Solantic or MCS (and the strong, but mysteriously obscure links they have to the investment firm) is a topic that would perhaps benefit from much more discussion and transparency, it is inaccurate to say that Ann Scott outright owns a Zika mosquito spraying company, as some headlines would have you believe — or that Zika is either a hoax or a conspiracy. Its appearance in the United States' national consciousness, much like Ebola's in 2014, can be attributed to a strong and media-savvy public health sector trying to raise awareness and alarms before a problematic but still relatively rare disease (which has been linked to everything from microcephaly and other congenital brain abnormalities to Guillain-Barré syndrome) becomes an outright, explosive pandemic.
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