The World Health Organization has announced that the explosive spread of the Zika virus in the Americas is an “extraordinary event” that merits being declared an international emergency.
Effect of Zika
The agency convened an emergency meeting of independent experts to assess the outbreak after noting a suspicious link between Zika’s arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads.
The last such public health emergency was declared for the devastating 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people.
WHO estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.
Such emergency declarations are meant as an international SOS signal.
What is Zika Virus?
The Zika virus spread by Aedes mosquitoes (It also transmits 3 other vector-borne diseases Chikungunya, dengue and yellow fever).
It has been linked to brain defects in babies i.e. they born with abnormal condition called microcephaly which can cause brain damage.
Current Affairs: 1st February, 2016 Current Affairs Round up December, 2015.
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