Zika virus is ‘spreading explosively — United Nations health chief

At the women’s hospital in San Salvador, Dr. Carlos Amaya Campos met with patients this week to explain the potential risks of Zika.

There is no treatment and no vaccine, says Dr. Saul.

Following a University of Wisconsin and Universidad de Sucre study published Tuesday that confirmed a Zika virus outbreak in Colombia, UW researchers caution travelers as they work to develop a vaccine.

Symptoms of Zika virus are usually mild, but the illness has been linked to a serious birth defect known as microcephaly in babies born to infected pregnant women.

He notes that the games starting August 5 will occur in the drier, cooler South American winter season when controlling the mosquito population “will be much easier”.

A Nassau County resident is one of five New Yorkers who has been infected with the virus, health officials have announced.

All of them are believed to have caught the infection while traveling in the Caribbean or Latin America where there are outbreaks of the tropical illness. If you’re infected with Zika virus now, but then get pregnant months down the road, is your baby at risk?

She noted that the last case of chikungunya, a related virus carried by the same mosquito, was six months ago.

“This is where an worldwide organization with all the resources and the expertise that the WHO has can really help steer a cohesive response to Zika”, Cabrera said. “We must eradicate all areas of stagnant water where the mosquito lives and reproduces”. In about 80 percent of the cases, symptoms might not manifest.

Bach spoke during a visit to Greece where he promoted a $2 million worldwide assistance program for refugee athletes. This is our problem, a problem of Brazil, a problem of Rio, a challenge that we must face.

Some experts had criticized Chan for not immediately convening a committee to advise on whether to declare Zika a public health emergency. The Aedes mosquito needed to spread the virus is only present in southern regions, such as Puerto Rico and the states of Florida and Texas.

The agency already temporarily prohibits donations from travellers who have returned from countries where malaria, which is also spread by mosquitoes, is endemic.

It took only three years for West Nile to spread across 44 states and the District of Columbia after it was identified in New York City in 1999, the first time it was discovered outside the Eastern Hemisphere.

The World Health Organization isn’t going that far, nor does it plan to anytime soon, according to Aylward. Is it all babies with exposure to Zika? “Questions abound. We need to get some answers quickly”, Chan said. “The increased incidence of microcephaly is particularly alarming, as it places a heart-breaking burden on families and communities”, Chan said.

“Zika virus’s spread in the Americas and its effect on pregnancy are new developments that we are working with partners to better understand”, said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, experts aren’t predicting widespread transmission of the Zika virus within the United States.

According to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the U.S. government hopes a so-called Phase I clinical trial could begin later this year to test a Zika vaccine in people, but a finished product will take far longer.

Up until now it was thought the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is confined to the tropics, was exclusively spreading the virus.

President Barack Obama hosted a meeting of federal health specialists on the issue earlier this week.

She told World Health Organization members the virus “is now spreading explosively”, in the Americas, where 23 countries and territories have reported cases. “The level of alarm is extremely high”. Chan says eliminating mosquito breeding grounds is one of the most important defenses against the disease.