The World Health Organization says it is convening an emergency committee to decide if the Zika virus outbreak should be declared an international health emergency.
At a special meeting in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan says the virus — which has been linked to birth defects and neurological problems — was “spreading explosively.”
Zika virus was first detected in 1947 and for decades, only caused mild disease. But Chan notes that “the situation today is dramatically different.”
(FILE) A researcher looks at Aedes aegypti mosquitoes kept in a container at a lab of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the Sao Paulo University, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 8, 2016. Three cases of Zika virus were recorded in the US state of Florida on January 20, 2016 in people who had recently travelled in Latin America, health authorities said. Two cases were found in people who visited Colombia in December and a third involving a person who travelled to Venezuela last month, Florida Health Department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said. The virus has quickly spread across South America and the Caribbean in recent weeks. The Zika virus, which is transmitted by the Aedes genus of mosquitoes, cannot spread between humans. AFP PHOTO / NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP / NELSON ALMEIDA
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, the Zika virus is now in more than 20 countries, mostly in Central and South America.
Chan says although there was no definitive proof that the Zika virus was responsible for a spike in the number of babies being born with abnormally small heads in Brazil, “the level of alarm is extremely high.” She also notes a possible relationship between Zika infection and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis.
“The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,” Chan says.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine for Zika, which is related to dengue — scientists have struggled for years to develop a dengue vaccine but have failed to create a viable shot so far.
The UN health agency last declared an international emergency over the devastating 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which ended up killing more than 11,000 people.
— AP
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