WHO Shifts from ‘Emergency’ Response to Long-Term Zika Fight

Many public health officials, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden, said they believe the Zika virus will become endemic, meaning it will stay in the population at low levels and flare up on occasion. The move was part of an effort to determine if Zika was linked to reports in Brazil of the severe birth defect microcephaly and the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

About 2,300 cases of microcephaly have been confirmed, and the vast majority – about 2,100 of them – are in Brazil.

A total of 38 Florida counties are under a state public health emergency declaration because of Zika, though all but four counties have reported only travel-related cases acquired overseas in areas where the virus is widespread.

WHO Dr. Pete Salama said the Zika virus will now be treated as a chronic problem and could return seasonally like other mosquito-borne diseases, the New York Times reported.

Although mosquito season has ended in some areas of the world and transmission of the virus has slowed, it’s far from gone. They said these were better models for estimating the impact of Zika than young, immunocompromised mice, which generally died several days after infection. Zika remains “an extremely important problem in the long term”, but there is no longer a global emergency.

“The committee agreed that Zika must be managed within the World Health Organization as are other important infectious diseases”, added Heymann, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “We will maintain the emergency [status] in Brazil until we are completely tranquil about the situation”, Health Minister Ricardo Barros said. Thousands of Zika virus cases were reported in Brazil a year ago and in 2016. “Kindly enhance surveillance and update your respective preparedness and response plans for Dengue and other abro viruses”, a statement from the Service said.

People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days. Brazil has been the country most affected. Another four mosquito-borne cases in Miami-Dade had possible exposure in Miami Beach and Wynwood.

A Reuters reporter visiting the Yangon hospital did not see any stickers or signs posted alerting or explaining Zika to the women.

The WHO was careful on Friday not to dismiss the risk still posed by the virus, which has been detected in 73 countries worldwide, mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The WHO’s decision is understandable, given that the pace of new Zika infections has dropped off considerably in recent months, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease chief for the U.S. National Institutes of Health.