Zika no longer public health emergency, WHO.

Zika no longer public health emergency, WHO.

The Zika virus outbreak and related clusters of microcephaly are no longer a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization said Friday.

Source: VI Consortium

 

Zika no longer poses an international emergency,  according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which warned, however, that the mosquito-borne virus is here to stay.

"The Zika virus remains a highly significant and long term problem, but it is not any more a public heath emergency of international concern," Dr David Heymann, the world health body's emergency committee chair, said on Friday.

The WHO's Emergency Committee, which declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in February, said the virus is still a long-term problem.

"The Zika virus and associated consequences remain a significant enduring public health challenge requiring intense action but no longer represent a PHEIC," the WHO panel composed of independent experts said in a statement after meeting.

As anticipated, the virus is continuing to spread around the world and is circulating in more than 60 countries and territories. Microcephaly and other neurological complications linked to the virus have been reported in at least 28 countries. Of the 2,300 confirmed cases of microcephaly, the majority have been in Brazil, where an increase in babies born with the condition was first seen last year. It's believed that this is only a portion of the actual number of such cases.

Thus, the CDC said, "It remains crucially important that pregnant women avoid traveling to areas with local transmission of Zika, because of the devastating complications that can occur in fetuses that become infected during pregnancy."