Zika could infect 4 mn people: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) expects the Zika virus, which is spreading through the Americas, to affect between three million and four million people, a disease expert said on Thursday.

The WHO’s director-general said the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.

Marcos Espinal, an infectious disease expert at the WHO’s Americas regional office, said: “We can expect 3 to 4 million cases of Zika virus disease”. He gave no time frame. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 per cent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the organisation will convene an emergency committee on Monday to help determine the level of the international response to the outbreak of the virus spreading from Brazil that is believed to be linked to severe birth defects. “The level of alarm is extremely high,” Ms. Chan told WHO executive board members at a meeting in Geneva. “As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the [Americas] region.”

Brazil’s Health Ministry said in November 2015 that Zika was linked to a foetal deformation known as microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads. Brazil has reported 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly, the WHO said last week, more than 30 times more than in any year since 2010 and equivalent to 1-2 per cent of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.

Ms. Chan said that while a direct causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth malformations has not yet been established, it is “strongly suspected”.

“The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,

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New Year, new public health threat

An obscure mosquito-borne virus, Zika, is on the prowl and has already caused an “unprecedent[ed] situation” in the world of scientific research. It stems from a huge surge in babies being born with microscopically, a rare, incurable condition in which their heads are abnormally small. The disease is currently sweeping through Northeastern Brazil, with officials reporting at least 2,782 cases in 2015, as against 147 in 2014 and 167 in 2013. At least 40 infants have died so far.

What is Zika virus?

The virus gets its name from the Zika forest in Uganda, Africa, where it was first identified in rhesus monkeys in 1947. It was reported in humans in 1952 but was unknown in the Americas until last year. The virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also responsible for the spread of dengue and chikungunya.

In the last few years, confirmed cases have been reported from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela.

Why is this outbreak alarming?

The Zika virus was considered benign until recently when scientists, for the first time in November 2015, linked it to a surge in babies born with microcephaly — an incurable birth defect, they are born with abnormally small heads. According to Brazilian authorities, by the end of the year, Zika could infect over 1.5 million people. Further, the disease is spreading fast and experts believe it could spread to other countries in the Southern hemisphere. Puerto Rico reported its first case of Zika on Friday.

Outbreaks have also occurred in parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Because the Aedes species mosquitoes that spread Zika virus are found throughout the world, it is likely that outbreaks will spread to new countries.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, and the Canadian government have issued travel advisories, warning tourists to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Further, the Brazilian government is advising women to delay pregnancies till the outbreak is under control.

What are the symptoms?

The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes). Other symptoms include experiencing muscle pain, headache, pain behind the eyes, and vomiting. The virus causes a painful but temporary rash in adults. The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week but 1 in 5 people infected with the Zika virus become ill

How is it Zika treated?

There is no medicine as yet to treat Zika. According to the CDC, the condition can be managed and symptoms treated with patients being put on bed rest, increasing fluid intake and having fever medication.

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Clinton, Sanders spar over health care

Hillary Clinton targeted Bernie Sanders’ electoral appeal with some of her strongest language yet in a debate on Sunday night, seizing on Mr. Sanders’ recent policy shifts on universal healthcare and gun control to try to undercut his image as an anti-political truth teller.

Ms. Clinton also repeatedly aligned herself with a former political rival, President Barack Obama, as she sought to portray her current one, Mr. Sanders, as a fringe candidate who did not stand with Mr. Obama on major issues such as Wall Street regulation. Mr. Sanders, in turn, gave no quarter as he criticized Ms. Clinton as dishonest in her attacks.

‘Medicare for all’

With Mr. Sanders gaining on her before the February 1 Iowa caucuses, Ms. Clinton cast herself as the defender of Mr. Obama’s record and Mr. Sanders as playing into Republican hands with proposals like replacing the Affordable Care Act with a single-payer plan, which Mr. Sanders describes as “Medicare for all.”

“We’ve accomplished so much already,” she said. “I don’t want to see the Republicans repeal it.”

“That is nonsense,” said Mr. Sanders, who pushed back sharply throughout the night. “What a ‘Medicare for all’ programme does is finally provide healthcare for every man, woman and child as a right.” He added that 29 million people still lack health insurance.

Ms. Clinton was pointed in her critiques of Mr. Sanders but relatively restrained in tone and words as she sought to raise doubts about what many liberals see as Mr. Sanders’ greatest virtues: his integrity and consistency on policy issues. She chose not to accuse him of “flip-flopping” on gun control bills as she had earlier on Sunday, but rather said at the debate that she was “pleased” he had “reversed” himself. For Ms. Clinton, it was enough to note Mr. Sanders’ changes in policy: by doing so, she raised doubts about his consistency, but stopped short of eviscerating his positions and potentially alienating a restless liberal base that largely favors Mr. Sanders.

Her tactics left Mr. Sanders appearing frustrated at times, such as when he called her “very disingenuous” on his gun record, or when he sighed audibly and rolled his eyes upward as she implicitly questioned his principles on healthcare.

When Ms. Clinton pushed on his healthcare plan, which she said would “tear up” the President’s signature achievement, he shot back: “No one is tearing this up. We’re going forward.”

The competition to claim Mr. Obama’s political mantle was the dominant theme of the night, given that the Democratic race has become so close in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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