The World Health Organisation says the virus, which is transmitted by mosquito bites as well as potentially through direct human contact, is likely to spread across all of the Americas.
Advertisement
The Zika virus, which causes shrunken brains in children, has, Lucey and Gostin say, ‘explosive pandemic potential’.
Although the virus isn’t fatal, and symptoms in adults eventually subside, there is no known cure for Zika virus at this time. There is no vaccine for the Zika virus and the only treatment is to monitor the symptoms, much like the common cold.
Brazil’s health minister Marcelo Castro said that almost 220,000 members of Brazil’s Armed Forces would go door-to-door to help in mosquito eradication efforts ahead of the country’s Carnival celebrations.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan was set to address the agency’s executive board in Geneva as countries took new steps on Wednesday to try to stop the mosquito-transmitted virus linked to the unsafe birth defect called microcephaly. Brazil’s health ministry has said the number of suspected cases of microcephaly in newborns increased by about 360 in the 10 days to January 16 to 3,893.
But so far, only 270 of the cases have been confirmed by lab tests as microcephaly involving brain damage, and the defect was ruled out in 462 cases, the ministry said.
Brazil has the highest rate of infection, followed by Colombia.
Health officials say the patient who tested positive is located in the northwest portion of the state.
The CDC is advising pregnant women to reconsider travel to Brazil and 21 other countries and territories with Zika outbreaks. The risk is so severe, some countries have asked women to avoid getting pregnant for up to two years-El Salvador requested women wait until 2018 to get pregnant.
Advertisement
Cases among travelers returning to mainland U.S. have already been reported and these instances are seen increasing by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection, which warned last week that imported cases could cause the virus to spread in some areas of the country. The United States, with about 4 million births a year, has an estimated 2,500 cases of microcephaly a year, said Margaret Honein, a CDC epidemiologist.
