It's official. Two weeks after announcing that the Ebola crisis in West Africa was over, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency.
That's according to the World Health Organization, which on Monday called for a "coordinated international response" to the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes to pregnant women and has already led to thousands of birth defects in Brazil.
"I am now declaring that the recent cluster of microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities reported in Latin America following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014 constitutes a public health emergency of international concern," announced WHO director general Margaret Chan.
However, unlike the U.S. government, the WHO did not recommend that pregnant women avoid regions of the world most affected by the disease. The illness is thought to have spread to 20 countries throughout the Americas, most recently Jamaica and Costa Rica.
While the U.S. can tell its residents to forgo travel to Latin America, the WHO has an obligation to all of its member nations to not stoke unwarranted fear that may negatively impact the economy of countries dealing with the disease.
"The research needs to be pulled together instead of different groups doing different things in their own corners," Dr. David Heymann, chair of the WHO emergency committee, told the New York Times.
Although some experts have warned that Zika could come to the United States, particularly in humid regions during the summer, there are few regions with year-round humidity comparable to the afflicted regions in Latin America. Moreover, U.S. agencies tasked with limiting mosquitoes have historically proven very effective.
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