In its latest update, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Zika virus is now “implicated” in large numbers of brain damaged babies.
Speaking in Geneva Director-General Margaret Chan said that the status of the virus had changed from a “mild medical curiosity to a disease with severe public health implications.”
She said that the virus was currently circulating in 38 countries and territories and that presently,
“noone can predict whether the virus will spread to other parts of the world” but if pattern is confirmed beyond Latin America and the Caribbean, “the world will face a severe public health crisis.”
Christopher Dye, the WHO chief of strategy and policy, said that the expectation is that across the Americas, there will be thousands more cases which will require more financial investment for control and health services.
At present, more than 30 companies are working on, or have developed, potential new diagnostic tests. Twenty-three projects are being worked on by 14 vaccine developers in the US, France, Brazil, India, and Austria. The vaccine will be used to protect pregnant women or women of child-bearing age, so it must meet an extremely high standard of safety.
WHO’s strategic response framework asks for (USD) 56 million and the agency estimates that at least some of the projects will move into clinical trials before the end of this year, but several years may be needed before a fully tested and licensed vaccine is ready for use.