Microcephaly

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan declared on Monday that the Zika virus constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Chan had convened an Emergency Committee to collect advice on the severity of the health threat associated with the continuing spread of Zika virus disease in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Zika virus does not pose a serious threat for Turkey due to geographical distance, says the head of the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (KLIMIK), Professor Önder Ergönül, while warning that international travel to regions of outbreak risk pregnant women's lives.

The World Health Organization (WHO) readies to meet at a special meeting on Feb. 1 to decide if they should declare an international health emergency for the Zika virus, which is "spreading explosively" in the Americas and could see up to 4 million cases over the next year, international health officials said Jan. 28. 

The Dominican Republic said on Jan. 23 that it has 10 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the ailment suspected of causing serious birth defects in newborns.

Altagracia Guzman, the Caribbean country's health minister, said lab testing of samples sent to the United States had confirmed Zika in 10 out of 27 suspected cases.