Public health ministers from 15 Latin American countries will be holding an urgent meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay today, Wednesday 3 February 2016 to discuss the zika virus threat in the region.
The meeting was requested in Quito last week by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, during the IV Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac). Representatives of the Pan American Health Organization have also been invited.
The public health ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Suriname, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Costa Rica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic are all expected to attend.
Uruguayan Health Minister Jorge Basso says that one item on the agenda will be how to control the borders to stop zika spreading, although he did say it would be extremely difficult to achieve.
On Monday, 1 February 2016, the World Health Organization confirmed that the increase in microcephaly cases and neurological problems already affecting Brazil, one of the countries with the highest number of zika cases, was enough to turn the virus into an international health emergency.
However, the Pan American Health Organization is estimating that the virus could affect between three and four million people in the Americas within a year.
The first reported sexually transmitted Zika virus case in the United States was confirmed in Dallas, Texas yesterday, Tuesday 2 February 2016.
http://www.businessinsider.com/zika-virus-in-the-united-states-transmitted-2016-1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/why-the-united-states-is-vulnerable-to-spread-of-zika-virus/2016/01/26/a8c6a9b4-c440-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html
http://www.listindiario.com/las-mundiales/2016/02/02/406248/ministros-15-paises-de-america-latina-incluida-rd-convocados-a-reunion-urgente-manana-sobre-zika-en-uruguay
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/02/01/zika-virus-who-declares-global-public-health-emergency-given-rapid-spread-in-americas/
