WHO<\/a>) Director-General Margaret Chan said in Geneva, noting that for decades the disease, transmitted by the Aedes genus of mosquito, \u201cslumbered,\u201d affecting mainly monkeys and occasionally causing a mild disease of low concern in humans.<\/p>\n\u201cLast year, the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now spreading explosively. As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the region,\u201d she added in convening an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations on the current epidemic which was first reported by Brazil in May before spreading across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty. Questions abound. We need to get some answers quickly. I am asking the Committee for advice on the appropriate level of international concern and for recommended measures that should be undertaken in affected countries and elsewhere. I will also ask the Committee to prioritize areas where research is most urgently needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Chan noted that the virus in some places has been associated with a steep increase in the birth of babies with abnormally small heads, known as microcephaly, and with cases of the sometimes fatal Guillain-Barre syndrome, although a causal relationship with Zika virus infection has not yet been established, but is strongly suspected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika, from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,\u201d she said. \u201cThe increased incidence of microcephaly is particularly alarming, as it places a heart-breaking burden on families and communities. WHO is deeply concerned about this rapidly evolving situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She warned of the potential for Zika to spread even further internationally given the wide geographical distribution of the mosquito vector, and cited the lack of population immunity in newly affected areas and the absence of vaccines, specific treatments, and rapid diagnostic tests.<\/p>\n
Moreover, conditions associated with this year’s El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern, which causes droughts in parts of the world and floods in others, are expected to increase mosquito populations greatly in many areas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Via UN News Centre<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Nations health agency called an emergency meeting for next Monday to counter the \u201cdramatic\u201d rise in Zika virus infection, warning that it could spread even further afield amid an \u201cextremely high\u201d level of alarm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[277,631,5587],"class_list":["post-15207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-news","tag-health","tag-who","tag-zika-virus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}