AMN /
World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting in Geneva today to decide whether Zika virus threat should be rated global health crisis. According to several public health experts, Zika virus outbreak in Latin America could be a bigger threat to global health than the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people in Africa. Brazilian public health authorities are reporting an increase in cases of microcephaly, a fetal deformation where infants are born with abnormally small heads.
The incidence of the normally rare birth defect is 10 times higher than normal. There is currently no prospect of a vaccine for Zika, in contrast to Ebola, for which several are now under trial. Zika is a viral illness spread from human to human through the bite of a mosquito.
Meanwhile, health authorities in several Asian countries have advised travelers, particularly pregnant women, to avoid trips to Central and South America.