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 The funds sought would be used until June to fast-track vaccines,
carry out diagnostics and research into how the mosquito-borne virus
spreads, as well as virus control, the WHO said.
A public health expert, Lawrence Gostin, said the United Nations
health agency had "grossly underestimated" the need as the virus,
which has spread rapidly across the Americas, will likely spread to
many other regions.
The WHO declared the outbreak a global public health emergency on
Feb. 1, noting the association of the virus with two neurological
disorders: microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barre syndrome that
can cause paralysis.
"Possible links with neurological complications and birth
malformations have rapidly changed the risk profile for Zika from a
mild threat to one of very serious proportions," WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan said in a WHO strategy paper on
Wednesday.
The funds sought include $25 million for the agency and its regional
office and the rest for aid partners such as UNICEF. The WHO expects
the money to come from states and other donors. In the meantime it
has tapped a new emergency contingency fund for $2 million for
initial operations.
Gostin, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, said the
WHO should have a much larger emergency contingency fund. He
compared the funding plan to the WHO's initial slow response to the
outbreak of Ebola, a virus that killed more than 11,300 people in
two years, mostly in West Africa.
BRAZIL MICROCEPHALY CASES RISE
Brazil, worst hit by the Zika outbreak, said on Wednesday that most
of the 508 confirmed cases of microcephaly reported in the country
are likely related to the virus, and called its previous count too
conservative. Brazil is investigating more than 3,900 additional
suspected cases of microcephaly, but it has not yet been proven that
the virus can cause the rare defect.
Microcephaly is marked by abnormally small head size that can result
in developmental problems. The Health Ministry reported on Wednesday
a total of 4,443 suspected and confirmed cases of microcephaly, up
from 4,314 a week earlier.
Researchers on Wednesday reported finding the virus in the amniotic
fluid of two fetuses diagnosed with microcephaly, suggesting Zika
virus can cross the placental barrier and providing another piece of
evidence linking the virus with the birth defect.
There is no treatment for Zika, which had been viewed as a
relatively mild illness until the concerns over microcephaly and
Guillain-Barre syndrome emerged.
At least 15 companies and academic groups are rushing to develop a
vaccine. Hopes of a breakthrough took a small step forward on
Wednesday when U.S. biotech firm Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc said its
experimental shot had induced a robust and durable response in mice.
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Shares of the U.S. biotech firm, which expects to test its product
in humans before the end of the year, rose by as much as 7 percent
on Wednesday.
COLOMBIA MAY HOLD CLUES
Colombia is another Latin American country hard hit by Zika and that
country's health minister said the effects of the virus there could
have global relevance as scientists research the suspected link with
microcephaly.
In contrast to Brazil, Colombia has yet to register any cases of the
birth defect connected to Zika, Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria
told Reuters.
Zika is primarily transmitted by a type of mosquito, meaning current
efforts to control the outbreak are focused on protecting people,
especially pregnant women, from bites and eradicating mosquito
populations in affected areas.
However, research is under way on potential transmission by sexual
contact. The WHO noted on Wednesday that "existing scarce evidence
indicates that there may be a risk of sexual transmission."
But research studies are needed to assess the presence of the Zika
virus in semen and other body fluids and potential sexual
transmission as well as mother-to-child transmission, the WHO said.
(This story corrects number of countries and territories to which
Zika has spread to nearly 30, from 39, paragraph 1)
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London, Amrutha Penumudi
in Bengaluru, Paulo Prada in Sao Paulo, Julia Symmes Cobb and Luis
Jaime Acosta in Bogota; Writing by Frances Kerry; Editing by Raissa
Kasolowsky, G Crosse and Lisa Shumaker)
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