Here is a list of countries in Europe and surrounding regions that have been assessed for their risk of a Zika virus outbreak.
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‘There is a risk of spread of Zika virus disease in the European Region and … this risk varies from country to country, said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO’s regional director for Europe.
“Like prior emergencies”, the White House wrote, “the effort to protect the American people from the Zika virus should not be funded incrementally”.
Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
“Our advice remains precautionary and is based on the fact that our main concern is to avoid infection in pregnancy, in order to avoid risk to the unborn child”.
The World Health Organization’s chief says the agency is increasingly concerned about the Zika virus, even though it does not recommend canceling or postponing the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in hard-hit Brazil.
However, since previous year the geographical distribution of Zika virus has steadily widened.
“There have already been indigenous European outbreaks of two closely-related viruses – Dengue and Chikungunya – that are spread by the same mosquito”.
The remaining 36 countries were decide to be at low, very low, or no likelihood of a Zika outbreak due to the absence of the mosquito vectors and unsuitable climates for them to survive if the mosquitoes were to spread there.
“I am very encouraged that Democrats and Republicans will be able to come together with a strong step forward to help ensure families…across the country are prepared to respond to this emergency”, Murray said.
The organisation said: “In spring and summer, however, the risk of Zika virus disease transmission in Europe will increase, as mosquitoes find better breeding grounds in warmer weather”.
Most countries have strategies in place to decrease mosquito populations, to detect Zika cases, to analyze them in laboratories and to inform their populations in case of an outbreak, according to WHO.
The WHO’s European office said that if no measures are taken to mitigate the threat, the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can carry the virus mean the likelihood of local Zika transmission is moderate in 18 countries in the region.
“We’ll look back at this and say, ‘We put people’s health at risk, we have delayed, we have caused people to suffer, and we have put this nation’s healthcare and the healthcare of others at real jeopardy for some ungodly reason, ‘” DeLauro said.
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“As of May 11, 2016, there were more than 1,200 confirmed Zika cases in the continental United States and U.S. territories, including over 110 pregnant women with confirmed cases of the Zika virus”, said a White House statement. A more likely deadline is early to mid-July, when lawmakers leave Washington for a seven-week recess dictated by earlier-than-usual national political conventions.
