As global health experts scramble to understand how the Zika virus spreads and may lead to birth defects, two cases suggest it may be transmitted through sex, not just mosquitoes. In a conference call with reporters Thursday, US Centers for
Zika virus is spreading rapidly through the Americas leaving researchers scrambling to understand the very basics, including how to prevent, treat and diagnose the emerging mosquito-borne threat. There is no vaccine against Zika, which top US health authorities described Thursday
Brazilian judge Jesseir Coelho de Alcantara has declared he will approve abortions for women who have contracted Zika and can prove their unborn child has microcephaly or ancenephaly. In Brazil, abortions are only legal with judicial approval.
The Zika virus outbreak in Latin America has governments on the other half of the globe panicking. From Singapore to Taiwan to Russia, governments are taking precautionary measures to stop the virus, which experts have linked to significant neurological defects in infants, from spreading out of tropical regions across the continent.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned this week that the Zika virus in Latin America has “explosive pandemic potential.” Patients often experience mild symptoms with Zika, but pregnant women face a larger danger.
Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, is calling an emergency meeting of the Latin American trade bloc Mercosur over the rapid spread of the Zika virus. As the virus spreads throughout the hemisphere, a Mercosur meeting indicates Brazil’s concern for the economic repercussions of such an outbreak as much as the medical ones.
Experts and the World Health Organization is warning that the Zika virus, native to Africa but spreading rapidly in Latin America, has “explosive pandemic potential” and may ultimately affect up to four million people, significantly eclipsing the number of cases
