After a meeting of its emergency committee on Tuesday, the United Nations health agency also said there is increasing evidence that a spike in disturbing birth defects and neurological problems are caused by Zika, which is mostly spread by mosquito bites.
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Many countries in South America are experiencing a large outbreak of the virus, with Brazil being particularly hard hit since reporting its first case last May. About 44% believe the mosquitoes that spread Zika are found in every state in the country.
“Concerning the link with fetal malformations, the virus has been detected in amniotic fluid”, Chan said, adding “evidence shows it can cross the placental barrier and infect the fetus”.
A doctor examines a larva of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of Zika virus, in a laboratory of the Ministry of Health, in San Jose, Costa Rica, on January 29, 2016.
“Pregnant women across the world are terrified”, said Dr. Kirsten Salmeen, UCSF clinical assistant professor.
And once the virus is there, no one’s sure how long it lasts. In addition, they found that the prevalence of microcephaly was a lot higher in states with confirmed cases of Zika transmission compared with states without.
There are now 18 research projects on vaccines against the virus, which usually causes only mild flu symptoms.
HHS said scientific evidence suggests that Zika and other flaviviruses can transmit through blood products.
Puerto Rico is on the front line of an “uphill battle” against the virus, Frieden said, and needs a broad public health response, including mosquito control programs and house-to-house abatement efforts, that is hard to plan in the absence of resources.
“Microcephaly is now only one of several documented birth abnormalities associated with Zika during pregnancy”, World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan told a news conference.
Brazilian authorities have estimated up to 1.5 million infections, but they have stopped counting due to the rapid spread of the virus.
Prevention is the way to avoid infection, and that can involve wearing long sleeved shirts and long trousers and using mosquito repellent frequently in affected areas, said Vice Adm. C Forrest Faison III, Navy surgeon general and chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
“Women who are pregnant in affected countries or travel to these countries are understandably deeply anxious”. CDC has additional information online on how travelers can protect themselves and their family members from mosquito bites.
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“Until recently, Zika was thought to cause benign infections in humans”, Lannuzel and a team wrote in the case report.
