Zika Declared Global Emergency by WHO

Local Editor

The World Health Organization declared the mosquito-borne Zika virus to be an international public health emergency as the disease linked to thousands of suspected cases of birth defects in Brazil spreads rapidly.

The organization's Director-General Margaret Chan reported Monday that an international coordinated response was needed to improve detection and speed work on a vaccine and better diagnostics, although curbs on travel and trade were not necessary.

Meanwhile, the emergency designation was recommended by a committee of independent experts to the UN agency following criticism of a hesitant response so far. The move should help fast-track international action and research priorities. "Members of the committee agreed that the situation meets the conditions for a public health emergency of international concern," Chan said.

The WHO said last week the Zika virus was "spreading explosively" and could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas noting that Brazil is due to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Relatively, Brazil reported nearly 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, in which infants are born with smaller-than-usual brains. The Health Ministry linked the condition to Zika, although the connection is not yet definitive.

The clinical symptoms of Zika are usually mild and often similar to dengue, a fever which is transmitted by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito, leading to fears that Zika will spread into all parts of the world where dengue is commonplace. More than a third of the world's population lives in areas at risk of dengue infection, in a band stretching through Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team