Zika virus

A small Australian maker of bug sprays became an unlikely beneficiary of the mosquito-borne Zika virus outbreak this week when the country's Olympic team signed it up as its first official insect repellent sponsor. 

Brazil warned pregnant women on Feb. 1 to stay away from the Summer Olympics after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international emergency over the Zika virus, blamed for causing a surge in brain-damaged babies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan declared on Monday that the Zika virus constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Chan had convened an Emergency Committee to collect advice on the severity of the health threat associated with the continuing spread of Zika virus disease in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Zika virus does not pose a serious threat for Turkey due to geographical distance, says the head of the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (KLIMIK), Professor Önder Ergönül, while warning that international travel to regions of outbreak risk pregnant women's lives.

The World Health Organization (WHO) readies to meet at a special meeting on Feb. 1 to decide if they should declare an international health emergency for the Zika virus, which is "spreading explosively" in the Americas and could see up to 4 million cases over the next year, international health officials said Jan. 28. 

At least 57 people have died from H1N1, also known as "swine flu," in Turkey over the last three months, Turkey's health minister said Jan. 28.        

Scientists have urged the World Health Organisation to learn from the Ebola outbreak and take immediately action on combating Zika virus warning it has ‘explosive pandemic potential’.

The US experts claim WHO has still not taken a leadership role in dealing with the Zika pandemic and advised it convene an emergency committee of disease experts.

A Denmark resident who travelled outside Denmark has tested positive for mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, the national broadcaster DR reported on Jan. 27, citing health officials.

Health authorities from second largest Danish city, Aarhus, said the patient travelled to South and Central America where the Zika virus has taken hold, DR said. It did not elaborate. 

The Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease suspected of causing serious birth defects, is expected to spread to all countries in the Americas except Canada and Chile, the World Health Organization said.

The Dominican Republic said on Jan. 23 that it has 10 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the ailment suspected of causing serious birth defects in newborns.

Altagracia Guzman, the Caribbean country's health minister, said lab testing of samples sent to the United States had confirmed Zika in 10 out of 27 suspected cases.