“The Level Of Alarm Is Extremely High” As Zika “Spreading Explosively” WHO Warns
Well over a year since the global fears over the Ebola epidemic sent US stocks reeling in late 2014 ahead of an even sharper rebound, today the head of the World Health Organization delivered a very stern warning when she said that the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that may cause birth defects when pregnant women are infected, has been “spreading explosively” in South and Central America.
“The level of alarm is extremely high,” WHO director general Margaret Chan said Thursday in an e-mailed statement according to Bloomberg. Chan said she will convene an emergency meeting on Feb. 1 in Geneva to consider whether to declare the outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” which can coordinate government responses to direct money and resources at the virus. She added that the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.
Bloomberg adds that according to Chan researchers are working to determine the exact link between the virus and birth defects such as microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and potential developmental problems. “The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika, from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,” Chan told members of the WHO executive board in Switzerland.
One way in which the Zika virus is comparable to Ebola is that in both cases there is no vaccine and it could take years before one is available.
Another way the Ebola scenario could come back with a vengeance is that the WHO said that it expects the infection to eventually become common in the U.S. Travelers from countries with outbreaks have already been diagnosed on their return to America.
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