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WORLD NEWSThursday 28 January 2016
Brazil: 270 of 4,120 microcephaly cases confirmed
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) —
Brazil’s Health Ministry said
Wednesday that in recent
months it has recorded
4,120 suspected cases of a
rare brain defect in babies
that officials fear may be
linked to the spread of the
mosquito-borne Zika virus.
But so far, only 270 of the
cases have been con-
firmed by lab tests as mi-
crocephaly involving brain
damage, and the defect
was ruled out in 462 cases,
the ministry said. Research-
ers are still investigating
3,448 of the cases, which
were recorded from Oct.
22 to Jan. 23.
The ministry said laborato-
ries are trying to determine
a link between the Zika
virus and microcephaly,
which also can be caused
by factors such as herpes,
rubella and syphilis. The
rare birth defect causes
babies to be born with un-
usually small heads and
can cause lasting devel-
opmental problems.
Brazilian health officials es-
Venezuela doctors fume at official silence on Zika ed on social media.
HANNAH DREIER
JORGE RUEDA
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)
— Venezuela’s medical
community is demanding
the government publish
statistics about the Zika vi-
rus and warning that the
South American country,
which borders nations that
are hotbeds of the illness,
could already be facing an
epidemic.
Venezuela’s Ministry of
Health has so far limited
itself to confirming the
presence of the mosquito-
borne illness suspected
of causing birth defects.
It used to publish weekly
data on all epidemic dis-
A municipal worker gestures during an operation to combat the
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus in Recife,
Pernambuco state, Brazil.
timate they had 150 cases
of microcephaly in all of
2014 and the surge in sus-
pected cases and the
possible link to Zika have
caused worries across Latin
America’s biggest nation
and in other countries in
the Western Hemisphere.
eases, but stopped making
those statistics public last
year.
Meanwhile, other Latin
American countries are
stepping up mosquito
eradication efforts and
officials in some, includ-
ing neighboring Colombia
and Brazil, have been so
concerned that they have
recommended women
consider postponing preg-
nancies.
“The Ministry of Health must
be the first to issue warnings a sudden, dramatic jump
about the existence of a
public health threat; they
cannot be the last one to
speak,” said Jose Oletta,
who was formerly Venezu-
ela’s health minister and
fever. Castro said the gov-
ernment also would dis-
tribute mosquito repellent
to some 400,000 pregnant
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana) women who receive cash-
transfer benefits.
On Tuesday, Brazil’s health The arrival of Zika in Brazil
minister, Marcelo Castro, last year initially caused
announced that 220,000 little alarm as the virus’
military personnel were be- symptoms are generally
ing deployed to bolster ef- much milder than those
forts to eradicate the Ae- of dengue. Then late last
des aegypti mosquito that year, Brazilian researchers
transmits Zika, dengue, reported they suspected
chikungunya and yellow Zika was linked to the dra-
matic increase in reported
cases of microcephaly.
The World Health Organi-
zation has stressed that a
link remains circumstantial
and is not yet proven sci-
entifically.
The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention is
advising pregnant women
to reconsider travel to Bra-
zil and 21 other countries
and territories with Zika out- was wearing a checkered
breaks. Officials in El Salva- shirt, jeans and sneakers.
dor, Colombia and Brazil
have suggested women
stop getting pregnant until
the crisis has passed. q
now works with the Net- can cause temporary pa-
work to Defend National ralysis.
Epidemiology. Brazilian officials estimate
“We already have a weak- that there have been hun-
ened health care system, dreds of thousands of Zika
which tends to make these cases there. Colombia
problems spread more rap- says it has seen more than
idly. Add to that the lack of 16,000 suspected or con-
information and it’s a per- firmed cases and expects
fect storm.” that number to multiply.
Zika, which is spread by the The Venezuelan Society of
same mosquito that trans- Public Health has chastised
mits dengue and yellow fe- the socialist administra-
ver, hit Brazil last year at the tion for remaining silent. It
same time the country saw said a study by non-gov-
ernmental organizations
in cases of microcephaly, that sought reports of fe-
in which people are born vers found a rise in cases of
with unusually small heads. acute fever in the past six
Investigators are also study- months that could corre-
ing a possible link to Guil- spond to 400,000 cases of
lain-Barre syndrome, which Zika here. q
Suspect charged in
murder of Georgia
woman in Grenada
LINDA STRAKER
Associated Press
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada
(AP) — A man accused of
killing a tourist from Geor-
gia in a machete attack
on an isolated beach in
Grenada made his first
appearance Wednesday
before a judge on the Ca-
ribbean island to face a
charge of capital murder.
Dave Martin Benjamin did
not enter a plea and was
not given an opportunity
to speak in the brief hear-
ing. A lawyer has not yet
been appointed to repre-
sent him. The 27-year-old
could get the death pen-
alty if convicted.
Hundreds of Grenadi-
ans gathered outside
the courthouse to get a
glimpse of Benjamin, who
He stood in silence during
the hearing after having
turned himself into police
on Monday. His picture
had been widely circulat-
Benjamin is suspected in
Sunday’s machete at-
tack on Jessica Colker
and her husband, Brian
Melito along a beach on
the southeast of the island.
Authorities have not dis-
closed a suspected motive
in the attack that killed the
39-year-old physician’s as-
sistant who lived in Atlanta.
Colker had graduated
from Tabb High School
in the Yorktown, Virginia,
area in 1994, according to
WAVY-TV in Virginia.
“Jessica could fill the room
with laughter in a second,”
friend and high school
classmate Kristin McManus
told WAVY-TV. “And her
smile just glowed, and she
was such a caring person,
an open person.”q