The committee said Zika infections constitute a public health emergency of global concern.
Advertisement
There is some bad Zika news from the latest WHO report, however: The agency said it still considers Zika an worldwide public health emergency since the virus continues to turn up in new places, wreaking potential damage to fetuses wherever it goes.
To date, Zika has infected 72 countries and territories.
“This extraordinary event is rapidly becoming, unfortunately, an ordinary event, ” Heymann said, explaining that health officials around the world should prepare for the imminent arrival of the disease spread mostly by mosquitoes, but also through sex.
World Health Organization said it was also unknown just how big the risk is for pregnant women.
Authorities said two pregnant women are among those infected since the first locally transmitted case was reported six days ago.
Though his death was not a result of Zika, the Sabah man is the first infected Malaysian to have died.
Singapore has so far reported 82 cases of Zika, while Malaysia confirmed its first Zika case.
Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly – a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized.
Just hours ago, Dr Noor Hisham had announced the Sabah man to be the first Malaysian to contract the Aedes mosquito-borne virus locally as he had not travelled overseas recently, unlike several other cases involving 11 citizens who were infected while in Singapore.
Infections in adults have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre.
Subramaniam said the virus was believed to be imported from Singapore because the woman started experiencing symptoms on the same day as her daughter. Common symptoms include fever, skin rash, joint pains and conjunctivitis.
The virus is transmitted through the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, sexual activity and blood transfusions.
Advertisement
Tropical Malaysia, which already has struggled in recent years to control the spread of Aedes-borne dengue fever, has been bracing for Zika after Singapore last weekend reported a surge in cases. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it hard for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.
