Biosecurity

Zika Virus, Birth Defects Are Health Emergency, WHO Says

An outbreak of the Zika virus and its potential association with birth defects in South and Central America has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization, a formal step that will begin coordinating government responses.

Margaret Chan, the director-general of the WHO, said that one of the first priorities should be controlling mosquito populations that have spread the virus. Diagnosis and surveillance of the disease’s spread also needs to be improved, the United Nations-affiliated agency said on its official Twitter account.

The declaration of a public health emergency has to do with clusters of microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and potential developmental problems, that appears to be associated with the virus. There’s an association, though not a scientifically proven link, between women who become infected while pregnant and the birth defect.