Posted February. 01, 2016 07:27,
Updated February. 01, 2016 07:40
The World Health Organization has decided to consider whether to proclaim the spread of the Zika virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by holding an emergency meeting on Monday. If PHEIC is declared, travel, trade and border-crossing with the areas concerned are completely banned. It cannot be ruled out that the Rio Olympics will be outright cancelled.
The Pan American Health Organization under the World Health Organization predicted that the number of Zika infections in the American continent could hit 3 million to 4 million cases through next year. The Zika virus only causes mild cold-like symptom in adults, but if a pregnant woman gets infected, it is believed to cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect involving insufficient growth of the brain and skull.
The Observer, the weekend edition of the British daily Guardian, reported on Saturday that the Zika virus could be an even bigger threat to global health than Ebola virus that hit Western Africa and left more than 11,300 people dead during 2014 and 2005 outbreaks. "In many ways the Zika outbreak is worse than the Ebola epidemic of 2014-15,” said Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust. “Most virus carriers are symptomless. It is a silent infection in a group of highly vulnerable individuals – pregnant women – that is associated with a horrible outcome for their babies."
First discovered in Uganda's Zika Forest in 1947, the Zika virus infections were reported mostly in Africa until cases were reported in Brazil in April last year. The virus has rapidly spread to 23 countries worldwide this year.