Marcos Espinal, head of communicable diseases at the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO’s Americas arm, forecast 3 to 4 million Zika cases in the Americas.
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“Within our own borders, U.S. Customs and Border Protection should enhance monitoring at ports of entry for mosquito infestations in cargo and for individuals demonstrating symptoms of the virus”, she wrote.
The U.N. health agency called the special session in part to convey its concern about an illness that has sown fear among many would-be mothers.
“First, the population is totally naive in terms of immunology against this virus”.
Most people do not need to be hospitalized from the disease.
It’s also been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect.
Should pregnant women consider postponing trips to countries with Zika as recommended by the CDC. However, now no vaccines are found for the prevention or treatment of Zika virus. But as Chan said in the briefing in Geneva: “Questions abound”. “It’s very important for you to understand that we don’t know as much as we want to know about this yet”.
The CDC is now requiring all states to report any travelers that bring the virus in the country, says Dr. Anne Schuchat, the agency’s principal deputy director.
In a statement Thursday, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said there is an “extremely high” level of concern about the virus, which may be linked to a serious birth defect and neurological problems in some parts of South America.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization said the virus is likely to spread to every country in the Americas, except Canada and continental Chile.
As for where it will spread next, Aylward says any countries that already have dengue fever should be on the lookout for Zika infections.
Shaheen notes American public health and military personnel “performed heroically” to stop the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa.
World Health Organization warned China and all other countries that have dengue fever to be on the lookout for Zika infections.
Chan’s emergency committee is meeting on Monday to determine what measures should be taken both in the affected countries and elsewhere to address the outbreak. More than 4,000 suspected cases have been reported in Brazil since October. Some of those have turned out not to be microcephaly, but many of them have been confirmed through ultrasound, he said. Symptoms are: fever, rash, muscle ache, and conjunctivitis (red eye).
The outbreak has mostly been in the poor and underdeveloped northeast, but the prosperous southeast, where Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are located, is the nation’s second hardest-hit region. After some time had passed, a colleague suggested their illness could have been Zika.
Dr Gatherer said: “There is a possible association with microcephaly if infection occurs in pregnancy”. This mode of transmission is being investigated.
31 The number of Zika cases found so far in the United States, across 11 states.
Some infectious disease experts believe it’s only a matter of time before mosquitoes with the virus make their way to the United States. “By planning ahead and marshalling federal resources, we can help prevent a major outbreak of Zika in the United States”.
On Thursday, a JetBlue Airways spokesman said the airline would give refunds or rebook passengers concerned about traveling to areas affected by the virus. “I think there’s a lot still to be learned about the virus”, she said.
But the officials cautioned that it could be years before the vaccine is available for wide use.
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Dr Derek Gatherer, a lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at Lancaster University, says: “It is a member of the flavivirus group (of viruses), a relative of yellow fever virus and dengue fever virus, first discovered in 1947 in Uganda”.
