WHO escalate Zika Virus more as world state of emagency

A health worker fumigates a house as
residents wait outside during a campaign
against the Zika virus and other mosquito-
borne diseases at Carabayllo district on the
outskirts of Lima, Peru February 1, 2016 ©
Mariana Bazo / Reuters
The World Health Organization
declared the Zika virus a global public
health emergency on Monday,
following a recommendation by a
committee of
independent experts.
"I am now declaring that
the recent cluster of
microcephaly and other
neurological abnormalities reported in
Latin America following a similar
cluster in French Polynesia in 2014
constitutes a public health emergency
of international concern ," WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan said
on Monday.
The mosquito-borne virus that is
believed to have recently caused
thousands of birth defects in Brazil
requires an international coordinated
response, Chan said.
However, no restrictions on travel or
trade are necessary, she added.
The move, recommended by WHO's
International Health Regulations
Emergency Committee, which brings
together experts in epidemiology,
public health and infectious diseases
from around the world, is aimed at
fast-tracking international action and
research priorities.
Last week, the Zika virus was
announced to be “spreading
explosively,” with the WHO warning
that it could infect as many as four
million people in the Americas only.
With nearly 4,000 suspected virus-
linked cases of infants born with a
congenital condition associated with
incomplete brain development,
Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo
Castro claimed the epidemic was
worse than previously believed. In 80
percent of the cases the infected
people had no symptoms, Castro told
Reuters.
Сases of babies with Zika-linked birth
defects have been registered in 24
nations and territories in the Americas,
according to the Pan American Health
Organization.