The Obama administration is raising the alarm about the Zika virus, warning Congress and the American people that more funding is needed to respond to the threat posed by the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it has been able to confirm that the Zika virus causes microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking to transfer $510 million in money allocated to fighting the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in west Africa to preventing a similar outbreak of Zika in the United States, officials announced Wednesday.
With 220,000 troops on the ground and 315,000 public officials on call, the operation to eradicate the Zika virus from Brazil has become the largest military operation in that nation’s history. Many fear attempts to eradicate the mosquito-borne illness before the Summer Olympics in August will not be enough, however, as scientists study the deadly complications that accompany the disease.
California’s San Mateo County reported a new case of Zika virus, confirmed publicly on Friday.
The government of Colombia has confirmed 32 cases of infant birth defects tied to the Zika virus, while a total number of 50 cases are investigated for ties to the disease. While birth defects tied to Zika have been rampant in Brazil, these are the first cases outside the epicenter of the Zika outbreak currently underway in South America.
One of two remaining holdouts against Zika on the Western Hemisphere has confirmed its first locally acquired case of the enigmatic virus. The government of Chile has confirmed that a Zika patient contracted the disease from a sexual partner who had been to Haiti.
Bangladesh authorities have confirmed they found the Zika virus in a blood sample from an elderly man who did not leave the country.
The International Olympic Commission issued a statement saying it was “closely monitoring” the increasingly unstable political situation in Brazil, but was “very confident” the nation would be able to competently host the Summer Olympics this August regardless of the outcome of weeks of protests demanding impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning about travel to Cuba after authorities reported Zika on the communist island.
Scientists have confirmed that the Zika virus, which has infected upwards of one million people in Latin America, can severely damage the brains of unborn children. Now a new study suggests the virus may also trigger brain infections in adults that can cause the brain and spinal cord to swell, causing intense damage to the nervous system.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that sexual transmission of the Zika virus is more common than previously believed, especially male carriers infecting women. WHO also reported mounting evidence for the connection between Zika, birth defects, and neurological disorders, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome.
San Francisco health officials confirmed a case of the rapidly spreading Zika virus in their city on Thursday, the second case in the Bay area this week.
A Brazilian professor of law has died from Zika complications.
The White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plan to meet with officials in individual states to combat against the mosquito that carries the Zika virus.
The Florida government has confirmed five new Zika cases, including another pregnant woman. This brings the total number of cases of pregnant women carrying the Zika virus in Florida to four.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that at least two pregnant women who tested positive for the Zika virus chose to abort their babies.
The Florida Department of Health has confirmed that three pregnant women have Zika after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the Zika outbreak could get worse before it gets better.
Colombian health officials announced a “probable” microcephaly case in an aborted fetus and discovered the Zika virus in the amniotic fluid.
Brazil has reportedly decided to use the radioactive sterilization of mosquitoes as a means of fighting the Zika virus, with the blessing of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is shipping the necessary irradiator device.
A Fordham University theological and social ethics professor writes that the radical left could well be using an outbreak of the Zika virus to impose its eugenicist impulses on countries that prohibit abortion.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has announced it is investigating fourteen cases of sexually transmitted Zika in the United States.
A Colombian businessman has fully recovered from the Zika virus after doctors diagnosed him in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Venezuelan opposition deputy José Manuel Olivares claims the country has under-reported cases of the Zika virus and the country lacks necessary medical supplies to properly combat the outbreak sweeping the region.
The government of Brazil is urging calm as a robbery involving thieves disguised as government health workers on a routine inspection for Zika mosquitoes has taken over national headlines.
Fearing a global pandemic, the South Korean Science Ministry has announced plans to invest 3 billion won ($2,438,910) in Zika research.
Last fall, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) published an internal memo that expressed concern that Brazilian authorities would not properly clean the water in Rio de Janeiro before the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked people not to donate blood if they recently traveled to countries affected by the Zika outbreak.
As Latin America scrambles to help explain the Zika pandemic that has affected over a million people in the Western Hemisphere so far, conspiracy theories pushed by Russia and anti-Western outlets have begun to gather steam in social media and alternative news outlets.
The Brazilian Health Ministry has confirmed that the Zika virus has caused “most” of the microcephaly cases recorded following its discovery in the country.
The research group Fiocruz announced it will investigate a recent miscarriage that occurred after the mother contracted Zika. It could be the first miscarriage in Rio de Janeiro caused by the virus.
Microcephaly, babies born with small heads and underdeveloped brains, is one of the grim consequences that has been laid at the feet of the Zika viral outbreak.
The Brazilian government announced that it is considering imposing fines on private landowners who do not allow public health officials on their property to eliminate breeding sites of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito that transmits the Zika virus, according to various news reports.
Tennis star Rafael Nadal told the media the recent Zika outbreak in Brazil does not worry him as he prepares for the Rio Open.
Gennady Onishchenko, former head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection (Rospotrebnadzor) and former chief sanitary doctor of Russia, told the BBC he believes the United States is involved in the widespread presence of Zika virus in Latin America.
The Jamaican Ministry of Health is using dancehall reggae to warn its citizens to exercise extra caution to avoid creating potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes as the Zika virus pandemic sweeping South America threatens to travel north to the Caribbean.
Hawaii’s governor David Ige declared a state of emergency for mosquito-borne illnesses on Sunday, including Zika and dengue fever. The latter has been an especially urgent concern, with over 250 confirmed cases of dengue reported during the current outbreak.
Russia has documented its first case of Zika virus infection after an unnamed woman returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic.
Doctors have found the Zika virus in areas of the body protected from the immune system, such as seminal fluid, fetal brain tissue, and the placenta.
Brazilian officials, including President Dilma Rousseff, took to the streets on Saturday for National Day Against Zika to raise awareness about the virus and ways to prevent it.
