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 WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters that coordinated
international action was needed to improve detection and expedite
work on a vaccine and better diagnostics for the disease, but said
curbs on travel or trade were not necessary.
Chan, whose agency was assailed as too slow in reacting to West
Africa's Ebola epidemic that killed more than 10,000 people in the
past two years, cited "first and foremost the big concern about
microcephaly," the birth defect that causes babies to be born with
abnormally small heads and improperly developed brains.
She noted that it was "strongly suspected but not yet scientifically
proven" that Zika causes microcephaly.
"Can you imagine if we do not do all this work now, and wait until
the scientific evidence comes out?" Chan told reporters at the WHO
headquarters in Geneva. "Then people will say that, 'Why don't you
take action because the mosquito is ubiquitous?'"
The emergency designation, recommended by a committee of independent
experts following criticism of a hesitant response to Zika so far,
should help fast-track international action and research priorities.
The move lends official urgency to research funding and other steps
to stem the spread of the virus.
The WHO said last week the Zika virus, transmitted by the bite of
the Aedes aegypti mosquito, was "spreading explosively" and could
infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas. The Pan American
Health Organization says Zika has spread in 24 nations and
territories in the Americas.
This marks the fourth time the WHO has declared a global health
emergency since such procedures were put in place in 2007, with the
others arising from influenza, Ebola and polio.
OLYMPIC WORRIES
Brazil is due to host the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August, and
President Dilma Rousseff's chief of staff said on Monday there is no
risk of cancelling the games due to Zika.
"We have to explain to those coming to Brazil, the athletes, that
there is zero risk if you are not a pregnant women," Jaques Wagner
told reporters in Brasilia.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head Thomas
Frieden said the WHO emergency declaration "calls the world to
action" on Zika. The CDC added four more countries and territories
to its list of locales that pose a risk for Zika infection, advising
pregnant women to consider avoiding travel to those areas.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity, said
the WHO "should be congratulated for being far more proactive" this
time.
Lawrence Gostin, a public health and law expert at Washington's
Georgetown University who last week called on the WHO to act
urgently against Zika, welcomed Chan's declaration but called for a
clear strategy and ample resources.
"Actions speak louder than words," Gostin said.
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The Zika virus has raised questions worldwide about whether pregnant
women should avoid infected countries. Chan said delaying travel was
something pregnant women "can consider" but added that if they
needed to travel they should take protective measures by covering up
and using mosquito repellent.
Brazil has reported some 3,700 suspected cases of microcephaly.
Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro told Reuters the epidemic
was worse than believed because in 80 percent of cases the infected
people had no symptoms.
As the virus spreads from Brazil, other countries in the Americas
are also likely to see cases of babies with Zika-linked birth
defects, experts believe.
The clinical symptoms of Zika are usually mild and often similar to
dengue, which is transmitted by the same mosquito, leading to fears
that Zika will spread into all parts of the world where dengue is
commonplace.
More than a third of the world’s population lives in areas at risk
of dengue infection, in a band stretching through Africa, India,
Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Zika's rapid spread in Latin America is attributed to the prevalence
of Aedes aegypti and a lack of immunity among the population.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said one way for the United
States to reduce the risk of Zika there would be to try to control
the mosquitoes that carry it.
"At some point here ... we're going to see the temperatures rise
(and) that will make for a more hospitable environment for
mosquitoes," he said. "We want to make sure that we have got a
strategy to try to limit the spread of this disease when that
happens."
A senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said, "This is not an Ebola-type situation where you have
to stop people at the border."
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state's health
department would offer free tests for individuals with symptoms of
infection who have traveled to countries impacted by Zika.
(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London, Roberta Rampton in
Washington, Natalie Grover in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in
Chicago.; Editing by Alison Williams, Will Dunham and Mary Milliken)
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