WHO declares Zika virus global health emergency - Rawan For Media Artistic and Production
Zika virus spreads causes deformities in new babies
Margaret
Chan, WHO director-general said there is an "urgent need to coordinate
international efforts to understand whether the Zika virus is causing
birth defects."
The
WHO is under pressure to act quickly in the fight against Zika, after
admitting it was slow to respond to the recent Ebola outbreak that
ravaged parts of West Africa and killed more than 11,300 people.
The WHO declared that the surge in South America was "strongly suspected" of being caused by the Zika virus.
The
UN health body said that there was a causal relationship between the
mosquito-borne Zika virus and a surge in cases of microcephaly - the
devastating condition which also sees babies born with small brains.
WHO estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.
Emergency
declarations are meant as an international SOS signal and usually
trigger increased money and efforts to stop the outbreak, as well as
prompting research into possible treatments and vaccines.
'It is going to spread'
The
declaration came amid news that Panama said it has 50 cases of Zika
virus infections and warned that Zika will end up spreading across the
Central American nation.
"Let's
be clear: it [Zika] is going to enter, it is going to spread," the head
of the health ministry's epidemological department, Israel Cedeno, told
the television network TVN-2.
The
50 cases confirmed so far in Panama were concentrated in the
predominantly indigenous Guna Yala region along its Caribbean coast.
Vice
President Isabel De Saint Malo last week had spoken of 38 cases in Guna
Yala and said at the time that "there is no big public health risk."
Infections
have been reported in 13 countries in the Americas, according to WHO,
as well as in Asia, and in Africa, from where it originated.
Panama
borders Colombia, which has so far reported more than 20,000 cases of
Zika, including 2,100 in pregnant women. Colombia is forecasting it will
see more than 650,000 infections.
Source: Agencies
The
World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the explosive spread
of the Zika virus in the Americas is an "extraordinary event" that
merits being declared an international emergency.
The
agency convened an emergency meeting of independent experts on Monday
to assess the outbreak, after noting a link between Zika's arrival in
Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with
abnormally small heads.
World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the explosive spread
of the Zika virus in the Americas is an "extraordinary event" that
merits being declared an international emergency.
The
agency convened an emergency meeting of independent experts on Monday
to assess the outbreak, after noting a link between Zika's arrival in
Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with
abnormally small heads.
Zika virus spreads causes deformities in new babies
Margaret
Chan, WHO director-general said there is an "urgent need to coordinate
international efforts to understand whether the Zika virus is causing
birth defects."
The
WHO is under pressure to act quickly in the fight against Zika, after
admitting it was slow to respond to the recent Ebola outbreak that
ravaged parts of West Africa and killed more than 11,300 people.
The WHO declared that the surge in South America was "strongly suspected" of being caused by the Zika virus.
The
UN health body said that there was a causal relationship between the
mosquito-borne Zika virus and a surge in cases of microcephaly - the
devastating condition which also sees babies born with small brains.
WHO estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.
Emergency
declarations are meant as an international SOS signal and usually
trigger increased money and efforts to stop the outbreak, as well as
prompting research into possible treatments and vaccines.
'It is going to spread'
The
declaration came amid news that Panama said it has 50 cases of Zika
virus infections and warned that Zika will end up spreading across the
Central American nation.
"Let's
be clear: it [Zika] is going to enter, it is going to spread," the head
of the health ministry's epidemological department, Israel Cedeno, told
the television network TVN-2.
The
50 cases confirmed so far in Panama were concentrated in the
predominantly indigenous Guna Yala region along its Caribbean coast.
Vice
President Isabel De Saint Malo last week had spoken of 38 cases in Guna
Yala and said at the time that "there is no big public health risk."
Infections
have been reported in 13 countries in the Americas, according to WHO,
as well as in Asia, and in Africa, from where it originated.
Panama
borders Colombia, which has so far reported more than 20,000 cases of
Zika, including 2,100 in pregnant women. Colombia is forecasting it will
see more than 650,000 infections.
Source: Agencies
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