The WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in a speech to the organization’s executive board that the explosive spread of Zika virus to new geographical areas, with little population immunity, was a cause for concern.
Although a causal link between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly has not been established, the circumstantial evidence is suggestive and extremely worrisome, Chan stated.
The WHO stressed that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries Zika and also dengue and chikungunya viruses, is already present in all countries in the Americas besides Canada and Chile.
The first case of the disease was reported in Brazil in May 2015.
Since then, the Zika virus has already spread to Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, San Martin, Suriname and Venezuela.
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