Independent experts to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday began deliberating whether to declare a global emergency over the Zika virus, which has been linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil.
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Professor Michael Bonsall, professor of mathematical biology at University of Oxford, added: “Now that microcephaly associated with Zika has been declared as a PHEIC by the World Health Organization it warrants immediate and swift action”. Under Brazilian law, terminating pregnancies is illegal except in cases of rape and when the mothers’ life is at risk.
The SPC said zika virus infection could only be confirmed by a laboratory diagnosis, and the Pacific Islands overall had very limited capacity for such testing.
Although WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said there was no definitive proof that the Zika virus, spread by mosquitoes, is responsible for the birth defects, she acknowledged on Thursday that “the level of alarm is extremely high”.
No firm link has been established between the Zika virus and microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which babies are born with abnormally small heads.
Jitters over Zika have spread far beyond the affected areas to Europe and North America, where dozens of cases have been identified among people returning from vacation or business overseas. The virus has been linked with microcephaly, which can leave affected newborns with unusually small heads and abnormal brain development.
Charles Schumer says the federal government must act quickly to contain the Zika virus that has infected people in 23 countries in the Americas.
The Un company stated a week ago the Zika virus was ” spreading ” and may invade as much as 4-million individuals within the Americas.
The UN agency admitted it responded too slowly to an outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, which has killed 11,000 since late 2013 but was only declared a global health emergency in August 2014.
Currently, there is no vaccine or medication to stop Zika. Symptoms include rash, fever and joint pain. The most important measures will be to protect people from the mosquitoes whose bites transmit the virus.
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A Sucre municipality worker fumigates for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 1, 2016.
