UN body acts over mosquito-borne virus to trigger funding for prevention campaign and research to establish exact link to serious birth defectsThe World Health Organisation has declared that the clusters of brain-damaged babies born in Brazil – linked to but not proven to be caused by the Zika virus – constitute a public health emergency of international concern.
The declaration,made by the WHO director Margaret Chan, will trigger funding for research to try to establish whether the Zika virus, and spread by mosquitoes,is responsible for the large numbers of babies born with abnormally small heads in Brazil. It will also achieve resources behind a massive effort to prevent pregnant women fitting infected and, through mosquito control, and stop the virus spreading.
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Source: theguardian.com