WHO: Zika No Longer a World Health Emergency (usatoday.com)

The mosquito-borne Zika virus that causes microcephaly and other birth defects is no longer a world health emergency, according to the World Health Organization. It is a virus that requires a long-term approach. USA Today reports: By downgrading the emergency status for Zika, the organization will now shift to a longer-term approach for fighting the virus that has spread across Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond. Zika was also found in parts of the Miami area. The virus "is not going away," WHO said on Twitter. "Countries need to be prepared and strengthen detection and prevention, as well as care and support for people." Nearly 30 countries have reported birth defects linked to the virus. WHO, which designated the health emergency in February, says more than 2,100 cases of nervous-system malformations have been reported in Brazil alone. The virus continues to spread geographically to areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are established, the organization noted. Most people who are infected by the virus do not get sick, but can suffer fever, rash and joint pain. The virus, however, can cause birth defects, including microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development.

Comments

Re:Opposite Day for Headlines?

[skids]

Yeah, the interview I heard with a WHO guy he was emphasizing that this is not so much a "downgrade" as a change in status. The emergency has emerged, not gone away.

Question:

[Futurepower(R)]

If someone is infected by Zika and returns to health, can that person still infect others? Nothing I've read about Zika answers that.

Re:Question:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

People with symptomatic illness have transmitted Zika before they had symptoms, while they had symptoms, and after symptoms resolved.
http://www.cdc.gov/zika/hc-pro...

Re:Zika no longer a threat

[Adriax]

It's all relative.
Zika is still extremely dangerous but now there's something even worse to worry about for anyone living in a climate south of new york.

Re:Really?

[PopeRatzo]

at present the CDC is recommending against pregnant women avoid traveling to Miami-Dade if they can

Zika or not, that's just sound advice.

I'm less afraid of Zika

[rsilvergun]

and more afraid of numskulls who don't understand science and disaster response and will take this to mean Zika was never a threat. A lot of stuff about the coming US Presidential Administration scares me but the thought of Trump putting cronies in charge of this sort of thing instead of experts is pants shittingly terrifying...