Zika virus now a global emergency
Disease given the same threat rating as ebola
The Zika virus was yesterday declared a global health emergency as it spreads across latin America.
the World Health Organisation put the mosquito-borne disease in the same category as ebola, which killed more than 11,000 in Africa in 2014.
experts were called in to assess the Zika outbreak after a link was noted between its arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of birth defects.
WHO director-general Dr Margaret chan said there was no definitive proof the virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads but said the situation ‘meets the conditions of a public health emergency of international concern’.
calling the spread an ‘extraordinary event’, she said the ‘level of alarm is extremely high’. the declaration allows countries to co-ordinate their response to the disease and intensify control measures including killing mosquitoes. WHO estimates there could be up to 4million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year. Pregnant women have been warned not to travel to infected areas.
in the meantime, many Britons are cancelling holidays ahead of the birth of their children – known as ‘babymoons’ – because of health fears, it emerged yesterday.
london estate agents na diye Morgan, 30, and her husband, Benedict Gannon, 31, said they had ‘no hesitation’ cancelling their £4,000 trip to Barbados. Miss Morgan, who is 19 weeks pregnant, said they had planned the two-week break in March ahead of the birth of their first child. the law graduate told the london evening Standard: ‘We were really looking forward to it, but we were not going to put our unborn baby at risk for the sake of a holiday. We are seriously worried about the birth defects the virus has been linked to, and with no cure and no vaccine it’s very worrying.’
Krystle Jones, who is 11 weeks pregnant with her third child, cancelled her £3,000 honeymoon to Mexico in April.
Mrs Jones, 28, said: ‘When i heard about it i said, “there’s absolutely no way i’m putting my baby at risk like that”. Our GP gave us the same advice not to travel. it’s heartbreaking because we’d been saving for the honeymoon for a year but the choice was obvious.’
Mrs Jones, from Watford, added: ‘ You wouldn’t be able to have fun anyway as you’d be worried the whole time and throughout the pregnancy you might have the virus.’
the emergency declaration by WHO acts as an international SOS signal. it usually triggers an increase in cash to stop the outbreak as well as speeding up research into possible treatments and vaccines.
experts said WHO had reacted far quicker than it had with ebola – which was only declared a health emergency nine months after the 2014 outbreak in West Africa.