WHO ‘extremely alarmed’ by Zika

The World Health Organisation expects the Zika virus, which is spreading through the Americas, to affect between three million and four million people, a disease expert said on Thursday.

The WHO’s director-general said the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.

Marcos Espinal, an infectious disease expert at the WHO’s Americas regional office, said: “We can expect three to four million cases of Zika virus disease”. He gave no time frame.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 per cent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.

“The level of alarm is extremely high,” WHO director-general Margaret Chan told executive board members at a meeting in Geneva. “As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the (Americas) region.”

Ms Chan said the organisation will convene an emergency committee on Monday to help determine the level of the international response to an outbreak of the virus spreading from Brazil that is believed to be linked to severe birth defects.

The emergency meeting is partly to ensure that national authorities do not impose inappropriate travel or trade restrictions, a senior WHO official said.

“An important consideration of the director-general in calling (the meeting) is to ensure that there are no inappropriate measures taken by member states in terms of travel or trade,” WHO assistant director Bruce Aylward said.

Brazil’s health ministry said in November 2015 that Zika was linked to a fetal deformation known as microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads.

Brazil has reported 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly, the WHO said last week, more than 30 times more than in any year since 2010 and equivalent to one-two per cent of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.

Ms Chan said that while a direct causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth malformations has not yet been established, it is “strongly suspected”.

“The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,” she said.

US President Barack Obama called for the development of vaccines and therapeutics to fight the Zika virus.

One case of Zika has been identified in Arkansas and another in Virginia, the US centre for disease control said, adding that one case was also confirmed in a girl in California, but she has since recovered.

As of now there is no vaccine to prevent Zika.

“The President is himself concerned about it. That’s why he convened a meeting here at the White House yesterday to discuss it,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.