Page 7 - Aruba Today
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U.S. NEWS A7
Tuesday 2 February 2016
WHO declares global emergency over Zika virus spread
JAMEY KEATEN 1,000 people had died. the outbreak, as well as
“If indeed, the scientific prompting research into
MARIA CHENG linkage between Zika and possible treatments and
microcephaly is estab- vaccines. There are cur-
Associated Press lished, can you imagine if rently no licensed treat-
we do not do all this work ments or vaccines for Zika.
GENEVA (AP) — The World now and wait until the sci- WHO officials say it could
entific evidence comes be six to nine months be-
Health Organization de- out?” Chan said. “Then fore science proves or dis-
people will say, ‘Why didn’t proves any connection be-
clared a global emergency you take action?’” tween the virus and babies
WHO estimates there could born in Brazil or elsewhere
over the explosive spread be up to 4 million cases of with abnormally small
Zika in the Americas in the heads.
of the Zika virus, which has next year, but no recom- Zika was first identified in
mendations were made to 1947 in Uganda but until
been linked to birth defects restrict travel or trade. last year, it wasn’t believed
“It is important to under- to cause any serious ef-
in the Americas, calling it stand, there are several fects; about 80 percent of
measures pregnant wom- infected people never ex-
an “extraordinary event” en can take,” Chan said. perience symptoms.
“If you can delay travel
that poses a public health and it does not affect your
other family commitments,
threat to other parts of the it is something to consider.”
“If they need to travel, they
world. can get advice from their
physician and take person-
The U.N. agency took the al protective measures, like In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo, Aedes aegypti mos-
wearing long sleeves and quitoes sit in a petri dish at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Per-
rare step despite a lack of shirts and pants and using nambuco state, Brazil. The mosquito is a vector for the prolif-
mosquito repellent.” eration of the Zika virus spreading throughout Latin America.
definitive evidence prov- The U.S. Centers for Disease New figures from Brazil’s Health Ministry show that the Zika virus
Control has advised preg- outbreak has not caused as many confirmed cases of a rare
ing the mosquito-borne nant women to postpone brain defect as first feared.
visits to Brazil and other
virus is causing a surge in countries in the region with Associated Press
Zika outbreaks, though of-
babies born with brain de- ficials say it’s unlikely the
virus could cause wide-
fects and abnormally small spread problems in the U.S.
On Monday, health offi-
heads in Brazil and follow- cials added four more des-
tinations to a list that now
ing a 2013-14 outbreak in includes 28 locations, most
of them in Latin America
French Polynesia. and the Caribbean.
The last time WHO declared
Monday’s emergency a public health emergency
was for the devastating
meeting of independent Ebola outbreak in West Af-
rica, which killed more than
experts was called in re- 11,000 people. Similar dec-
larations were made for
sponse to the spike in ba- polio in 2013 and the 2009
swine flu pandemic.
bies born with microcepha- Such emergency declara-
tions are meant as an in-
ly in Brazil since the virus was ternational SOS signal and
usually trigger increased
first found there last year. money and efforts to halt
Officials in French Polynesia
also documented a con-
nection between Zika and
neurological complications
when the virus was spread-
ing there two years ago, at
the same time as dengue
fever.
“After a review of the evi-
dence, the committee ad-
vised that the clusters of
microcephaly and other
neurological complications
constitute an extraordinary
event and public health
threat to other parts of the
world,” WHO Director-Gen-
eral Dr. Margaret Chan
said.
WHO, which was widely
criticized for its sluggish re-
sponse to the 2014 Ebola
crisis in West Africa, has
been eager to show its
responsiveness this time.
Despite dire warnings that
Ebola was out of control in
mid-2014, WHO didn’t de-
clare an emergency until
months later, after nearly
