Zika represents a global threat, there is no cure or vaccine

The dangerous Zika virus represents a global health threat, the World Health Organization announced today, BBC News reports. WHO experts are concerned that the virus is rapidly spreading with "devastating" consequences and say an urgent response is needed, the Patria news agency reports.

The virus is linked to health problems in thousands of newborns born with underdeveloped brains.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters that an internationally coordinated response to this public health threat is needed, but that travel or trade restrictions are not necessary.

"I declare that the recent cases of microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities in Latin America represent a public health threat worldwide," she said, adding that the priority now is to protect pregnant women and their babies, as well as to control the mosquitoes that transmit the virus. With this warning, the Zika virus has been placed in the same category as the threat of the spread of Ebola.

Currently, there is no cure or vaccine against the Zika virus, and the only prevention is avoiding bites from "Aedes" mosquitoes that transmit the infection. WHO has already warned of a possible "explosive spread" of the Zika virus across the Americas.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that after this WHO announcement, resources will be directed toward fighting the virus.

Since September 2015, Brazil has registered 3,700 cases of babies with microcephaly, a condition associated with Zika virus infection that causes children to be born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. The sharp increase in microcephaly cases has caused great concern worldwide, and the infection has already been recorded in 22 countries in North and South America.

The virus, for which there is no cure or vaccine, has also been confirmed in two European countries - Portugal and Denmark.

The Zika virus epidemic began in Martinique and Guyana at the end of December, and it is a virus extremely dangerous for pregnant women as it can cause deformities or even death of the child.
The virus is transmitted from person to person through the bite of the tiger mosquito and can cause neurological complications.

WHO expert Marcos Espinal believes that 3 to 4 million people in North and South America could be infected with the virus, including 1.5 million in Brazil, Index reports.