Mosquitoes spraying and Zika

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The Zika Virus started in Africa and is now in South America and expected to travel West other diseases borne by mosquitoes are serious and fatal
Should the mozzi spraying be started or intensified
THURSDAY 28 JANUARY 2016 Brazil , World
Zika virus 'spreading explosively' says world health expert


The director-general of the World Health Organisation warns that possible links between the Zika virus and babies with abnormally small heads are causing "extremely high" levels of concern.

A father with his baby which has microcephaly in Brazil (Reuters)
Announcing that the WHO would be convening an emergency committee meeting on 1 February, Margaret Chan said the organisation would consider the international response to the outbreak.

The Zika virus, which is spread to people through mosquito bites, has been present in several African countries for decades. It usually causes only mild symptoms.

But since the first case was reported in Brazil in May 2015, there have been numerous reports of women who have had the virus giving birth to babies with defects, in particular microcephaly, where a baby is born with an unnaturally small head.

Dr Chan said on Thursday she expected to see birth defects related to the Zika virus in other countries too.

Millions of cases
According to Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, of the Pan American Health Organisation, if the Zika virus spreads in the same way as the viral infection dengue, there could be as many as three to four million cases in the Americas in the next 12 months.

It is also feared that there may be a link with an increase in the number of people suffering Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis.

Health officials in the USA said clinical trials on two possible Zika vaccines could begin by the end of 2016, but warned it would be several years before any vaccine was widely available.

Currently Zika virus is present in Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, Cape Verde, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Samoa, Suriname and Venezuela

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BREAKING NEWS: Zika virus outbreak IS a 'global public health emergency', says World Health Organisation, as graveyards and schools are desperately disinfected in South America
Outbreak of the Zika virus is a global public health emergency, the World Health Organisation warned today
The alert puts the mosquito-borne disease in the same category as Ebola, which killed 11,000 people in West Africa
Experts predict there could be four million cases of the virus, which has spread to 23 countries, this year
WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan called it an 'extraordinary event' and called for an international response
There is no cure or vaccination for the virus, which is linked to babies being born with abnormally small heads
See more news on the Zika virus at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/zikavirus


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