|
 Director-General Margaret Chan told members of the U.N. health
agency's executive board the spread of the mosquito-borne disease
had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions. The WHO
would convene an emergency meeting on Monday to help determine its
response, she said.
"The level of alarm is extremely high," Chan told the Geneva
gathering.
"Last year, the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now
spreading explosively. As of today, cases have been reported in 23
countries and territories in the region," Chan said, promising quick
action from the WHO.
The agency was criticized last year for reacting too slowly to West
Africa's Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 10,000 people, and
it promised to cut its response time.
"We are not going to wait for the science to tell us there is a link
(with birth defects). We need to take actions now," Chan said,
referring to the condition called microcephaly in which babies are
born with abnormally small heads and brains that have not developed
properly.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is like dengue and
causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of
people infected have no symptoms. Much of the effort against the
illness focuses on protecting people from mosquitoes and reducing
mosquito populations.
Developing a safe and effective vaccine could take a year, WHO
Assistant Director Bruce Aylward said, and it would take six to nine
months just to confirm whether Zika is the actual cause of the birth
defects, or if the two are just associated.
"In the area of vaccines, I do know that there has been some work
done by some groups looking at the feasibility of a Zika virus
vaccine. Now something like that, as people know, is going to be a
12-month-plus time frame," he said.
U.S. health officials said the United States has two potential
candidates for a Zika vaccine and may begin human clinical trials by
the end of this year, but there will not be a widely available
vaccine for several years.
Marcos Espinal, head of communicable diseases at the Pan American
Health Organization, the WHO's Americas arm, forecast 3 to 4 million
Zika cases in the Americas.
As the virus spreads from Brazil, other countries in the Americas
are likely to see cases of babies with Zika-linked birth defects,
according to Carissa Etienne, regional director for the Pan American
Health Organization.
Brazil has reported around 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly,
vastly more than in an average year and equivalent to 1 to 2 percent
of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit
areas.
The WHO's 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.
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Health and law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University in
Washington, who had urged the WHO to act, welcomed Chan's decision
to convene an expert meeting, calling it "a critical first step in
recognizing the seriousness of an emerging epidemic."
OLYMPICS CONCERNS
With Rio de Janeiro set to host the Olympics from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21,
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the IOC
will issue guidelines this week concerning Zika.
"We will do everything to ensure the health of the athletes and all
the visitors," Bach told reporters in Athens.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, said there have been 31 cases of Zika infection among
U.S. citizens who traveled to areas affected by the virus.
"It's possible and even likely that we will see limited outbreaks in
the United States," Schuchat said.
In Washington, U.S. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts called on
the WHO and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to
explain how they were tackling the virus because many Americans
visit the affected region and more are expected to attend the
Olympics.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama's
administration's concern was focused mostly on pregnant women or
women who could become pregnant, given the link to microcephaly.
Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>, British Airways <ICAG.L> and JetBlue <JBLU.O>
became the latest international carriers to offer rebookings or
refunds for tickets to areas impacted by the virus.
Lufthansa and British Airways said they would offer pregnant women
the opportunity to change their reservations to another destination
or delay travel. They stopped short of offering complete refunds as
several U.S. airlines have.
(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London; Additional
reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Julie Steenhuysen in
Chicago; Writing by Kate Kelland and Will Dunham; Editing by Mark
Heinrich and Frances Kerry)
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