The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported increasing evidence that the Zika virus is responsible for the cause of microcephaly and other neurological disorders.
As a result, WHO has made certain recommendations based on the advice provided by the Emergency Committee (EC).
The Committee’s advice is based on the information provided by States Parties on microcephaly, Guillain-Barré Syndrome and other neurological disorders occurring in the presence of Zika virus transmission.
Brazil, Cabo Verde, Colombia, France, and the US are among the States Parties.
EC advised that research into the relationship between new clusters of microcephaly, other neurological disorders, including GBS, and Zika virus, should be intensified.
Pregnant women should be advised not to travel to areas of ongoing Zika virus outbreaks and must follow safe sexual practices or abstain from sex for the duration of their pregnancy, if their partners live in or travel to areas with Zika virus outbreaks.
Additional data on the genetic sequences and clinical effect of different Zika virus strains must be generated, by studying the neuropathology of microcephaly, conducting additional case-control and cohort studies in other and more recently infected settings, and developing animal models for experimental studies.
Retrospective and prospective studies of the rates of microcephaly and other neurological disorders should be conducted in other areas known to have had Zika virus transmission, but where such clusters were not observed.
WHO said that research should continue to explore the possibility of other causative factors or co-factors for the observed clusters of microcephaly and other neurological disorders.
Image: Aedes aegypti mosquito transmits the Zika virus. Photo: courtesy of James Gathany.
