The Zika virus outbreak could be classed as a public health emergency, like Ebola, after a World Health Organization committee meeting.
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Arrival of the virus in some cases has been associated with a steep increase in the birth of babies with abnormally small heads.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan will convene an International Health Regulations Emergency Committee for the virus on Monday, Feb. 1.
The Department of Health (DOH) said they are confirming reports that a Filipino in Honduras has been infected by the Zika virus.
Rousseff said an operation to eliminate breeding areas for the mosquito has begun at all installations run by the armed forces and at all federal educational, health and other facilities.
The Pacific Community said according to information available to it, no Pacific country had reported confirmed cases of the zika virus infection so far this year.
To protect people living in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Alwan urged all countries to enhance surveillance for early detection of Zika virus infection, particularly among travellers returning from countries where the virus is now circulating. The infection also causes Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease that makes the immune system attack the nervous system.
Health experts from WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also gave a warning that there is a possibility that the Zika virus outbreak could affect as many as four million people.
Since then, there have been 270 confirmed cases of microcephaly and 3,448 suspected cases.
Women have been the most affected in Colombia, accounting for 63.6 per cent of the cases.
“We want to encourage society to help in this cause”, the agency cited Health Minister Marcelo Castro as saying. It produces flu-like symptoms including a low-grade fever, headaches, joint pain and rashes.
Up until now, it was thought the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is confined to the tropics, was exclusively spreading the virus.
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“That means it may be transmittable from a patient through mosquito bites, blood transfusion and sexual intercourse”.
