Thursday, January 28, 2016

Here Comes Zika

The Zika virus, blamed for thousands of deformities in babies in what is a growing crisis across Latin America, could see “explosive” growth and affect up to 4 million people globally, experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday. 

Margaret Chan, director-general of the U.N.’s health agency, said the organization will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to decide if Zika should be declared an international emergency. She added that the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.

Marcos Espinal, an infectious disease expert at the WHO's Americas regional office, said: "We can expect 3 to 4 million cases of Zika virus disease." He gave no time frame.

You can read the rest @
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/28/zika-virus-to-affect-up-to-4-million-people.html

And some of them will be in the US. The mosquito which carries it is found throughout North, Central, and South America (except Canada and Chile).

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