BEVERLY HILLS, January 29, (THEWILL) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that about three to four million people could be infected with Zika virus in the Americas this year and will meet on Monday to decide whether Zika should be treated as a global emergency.
The last time an international emergency was declared was for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has killed more than 11,000 people.
WHO Director General, Dr Margaret Chan revealed that the virus had gone “from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions as she announced that the WHO has set up a Zika “emergency team” after the “explosive” spread of the virus.
In a statement to the executive board meeting of the WHO, Dr Chan said: “The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty.”
Zika, first detected in Uganda in 1947 and now spreading in Latin America, has never caused an outbreak on this scale. Most carriers will not develop symptoms, and it is hard to test for, but the virus, spread by mosquitoes, has been linked to brain defects in babies -microcephaly (babies born with abnormally small heads) and the rare nervous system disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome.
The link between the virus and these disorders has not been confirmed, but Dr Chan said it was “strongly suspected” and was “deeply alarming.”
And she warned the situation could yet deteriorate as “this year’s El Nino weather patterns are expected to increase mosquito populations greatly in many areas.”
Meanwhile, the US says it hopes to begin human vaccine trials by the end of 2016.
Officials from the US National Institute of Health said they had two potential Zika vaccines in development adding that talks were already taking place with pharmaceutical companies, but a vaccine would not be widely available for several years.
Spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever and yellow fever, the virus can lead to fever and a rash but most people show no symptoms, and there is no known cure.
The only way to fight Zika is to clear stagnant water where mosquitoes breed, and protect against mosquito bites.
Story by David Oputah
