News / Brazil

WHO calls Zika ‘bigger menace’ than recent epidemics

Thursday, 25 February 2016 11:23 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 25 February 2016 11:23 AM ]

WHO Director General Margaret Chan (R) is accompanied by Brazil's Health Minister Marcelo Castro on Feb. 24, 2016. (AFP photo)

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the mosquito-borne Zika virus is a “bigger menace” than any other epidemic in recent memory, warning that the outbreak could get worse.

WHO chief Margaret Chan said the virus presents a "formidable" challenge that will be hard to stamp out and that the world should be prepared for “surprises.”

"We are dealing with a tricky virus, full of uncertainties, so we should be prepared for surprises," she said in Rio de Janeiro after a fact-finding mission to Brazil, the epicenter of the Zika outbreak.

Chan said the situation “could get worse before it gets better,” with 46 countries having reported some level of evidence of Zika infections.

Up to 130 countries are home to the Aedis aegypti mosquito that carries the virus, meaning the eventual spread could be enormous.

The virus is suspected to cause serious birth defect microcephaly in children born to women with the viral infection. There is currently no cure or vaccine for Zika and no way to prevent it other than avoiding mosquito bites.

The virus has hit some 20 countries in Latin America, with Brazil being the hardest hit.

On Tuesday, Brazil’s Health Ministry reported 583 confirmed cases of babies with microcephaly since October. An estimated 120 babies have died due to the birth defect, the ministry said.

Chan said, after Brazil, WHO officials will monitor Colombia “very carefully” to see whether a Zika outbreak will also lead to a Brazil-like surge in microcephaly.

Colombian authorities said last week that they had registered 37,000 Zika infections, including in more than 6,300 pregnant women.

Chan formerly said the relationship between Zika and birth defects has not yet been fully established but is “strongly suspected.”

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