Zika virus: President Obama calls for rapid development of tests, vaccines and treatments to combat outbreak

The World Health Organisation has predicted the virus will spread to all countries across the Americas except for Canada and Chile

President Barack Obama has called for the rapid development of tests, vaccines and treatments to fight the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects.

American health officials are stepping up efforts to study the virus. Mr Obama “emphasised the need to accelerate research efforts”.

The President said that researchers should “make available better diagnostic tests to develop vaccines and therapeutics, and to ensure that all Americans have information about the Zika virus and steps they can take to better protect themselves from infection”.

A link is suspected between the virus and brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya, which causes mild fever and rash. An estimated 80 per cent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.

On Monday, the World Health Organisation predicted the virus would spread to all countries across the Americas except for Canada and Chile. There are no global estimates for how many people in the world have been infected by the Zika virus, a WHO spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, said this week. He added that because Zika has such mild symptoms, the virus has “not really been on the radar”.

On Wednesday, the National Health Institute in Portugal said that five people in the country have tested positive for mild cases of Zika virus after recent trips to Brazil. “These people have not been admitted to hospital and do not require further medical attention as these are mild cases,” a spokesman for the institute said.

In Denmark, the Aarhus University Hospital said a Danish tourist has been infected by the virus after visiting southern and central America.

Health experts say such cases are to be expected in Europe, given the scale of the outbreak in South America and the frequency of international travel.

Reuters