Here we go again.... 

Also note that they are now referring to this as the "Zika Pandemic".  Seems like we are just waiting on the WHO to now make it official.

Zika has 'explosive pandemic potential': Scientists urge World Health Organisation to act amid claims virus could infect 4 MILLION

• Called on WHO to convene an emergency committee of disease experts
• Scientists warn a Zika virus vaccine could take a decade to create 
• Virus can make a baby's head smaller and restrict brain development
• Criticised WHOs response to Ebola saying it 'cost thousands of lives'

Scientists today warned the Zika virus has 'explosive pandemic potential'.

The World Health Organisation said the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions and admitted up to four million people could be infected.

The agency will convene an emergency committee of disease experts on Monday. 

It comes after US experts claimed WHO was not taking a leadership role in the Zika pandemic.

They said the organisation needed to learn lessons from its handling of the Ebola epidemic where the 'agency's failure to act decisively cost thousands of lives'.

The WHO says it has set up measures to fight the spread including surveillance, laboratories for testing, clinical care and vector control - killing off the mosquitoes spreading the infection.

Today it said it expects the virus, which is spreading through the Americas, to affect between three million and four million people.

Marcos Espinal, an infectious disease expert at the WHO's Americas regional office, said: 'We can expect 3 to 4 million cases of Zika virus disease'. He gave no time frame. 

Scientists had accused the agency of failing to take 'a leadership role in the Zika pandemic'.

They said this is particularly urgent given the forthcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the article in the Journal of the American Medical Association said.

The virus has recently rampaged through the Caribbean and Latin America.

In particular, there is an unprecedented outbreak in Brazil, where in the past 12 months there have been nearly 4,000 cases of babies being born with abnormally small heads.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told WHO executive board members the level of alarm is 'extremely high'.

'As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the (Americas) region,' she said at a meeting in Geneva.

Brazilian President, Dilma Roussef, has urged Latin America to pull together to combat the virus.

Sharing knowledge about the disease is the only way it will be beaten, she told a summit in Ecuador. 

A meeting of regional health ministers has been called for next week.

Meanwhile, pregnant women have already been officially warned to avoid travelling to South America.

The US and other world leaders have called for swift action in developing a vaccine for the virus but warned it could take up to a decade. 

Scientists Daniel R Lucey and Lawrence O Gostin said an emergency committee should be convened 'immediately' to decide whether to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Zika virus is common in parts of Africa and South East Asia, but since 2007 there have been various outbreaks outside of the disease's comfort zone. It spread to South America in 2014, before reaching Mexico and the Caribbean last year. The first US case was reported in Texas at the start of January

The Zika virus has been blamed for causing severe brain damage to newborn babies. Gleyse Kelly da Silva holds her daughter Maria Giovanna as she sleeps in their house in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil.

'A national declaration of a public health emergency can focus political attention, while financing a surge in resources,' they wrote.

They called on WHO to heed lessons from the Ebola outbreak - in which the organisation was widely criticised for its failure to act decisively. 

'The World Health Organization (WHO) Ebola Panel in July 2015 said that urgent warnings 'either did not reach senior leaders or senior leaders did not recognise their significance.'

'By many accounts the agency's failure to act decisively cost thousands of lives.'

There is currently no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya, two viruses that cause mild fever and rash.

Approximately 80 per cent of people who are infected with Zika have no symptoms.

The other 20 per cent experience 'mild' symptoms, such as fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.

Dr Amesh Adalja, senior associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told Daily Mail Online that officials shouldn't expect any fast results. 

Dr Adalja told Daily Mail Online: 'There wasn't any vaccine development being undertaken prior to this outbreak in Brazil.

'It will be quite a while – and this is on the scale of about a decade for a vaccine to be developed usually.'

The WHO has warned it will soon spread to all countries across the Americas, except for Canada and Chile.

The Zika virus has been blamed for causing severe brain damage to newborn babies. Pictured is Alice Vitoria Gomes Bezerra, 3 months, who has microcephaly, is held by her father Joao Batista Bezerra in Recife, Brazil.

Dr Adalja explained that the public incorrectly assumes a vaccine will be available shortly – because of the rapid vaccine that was made available shortly after the Ebola crisis struck.

He said: 'A lot of people might be thinking that all of the sudden they had an Ebola vaccine.

'This is different from Ebola – that vaccine had been in development for many years.'

But now that Zika has become a public health concern, researchers are going into overdrive.

First off, scientists will have to do 'some basic science' to see if parts of the virus can be presented to the immune system, according to Dr Adalja.

That phase of the research may involve animal studies in the laboratory – and will involve investigating different ways that the immune system may react to the virus.

And once the first step is completed, scientists will next have to determine whether the vaccine is safe or if it has a high burden of side effects.

They will also have to look into if the vaccine triggers any autoimmune reactions.

The virus is spread by the same type of mosquito that spreads dengue fever – which has been reported in Florida since 2009. 

Professor Laura Rodrigues, a fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warned the virus could potentially affect areas where dengue fever is present.  

This again could have implications for pregnant women travelling to tropical and sub-tropical climates.

She said: 'I think it's sensible for someone to who is pregnant, or planning to get pregnant, should avoid travelling to countries with Zika. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3420598/Zika-explosive-pandemic-potential-Scientists-urge-World-Health-Organisation-act-prevent-catastrophe-like-Ebola.html

The emergency meeting will conclude with two things.  Travel restrictions & whether to declare a pandemic.  We're going to probably see both.   The WHO will need to warn the public and no way to downplay this.  They usually factor any economic impact first before health concerns, from what I've seen, so the only potential snag in all of this will be the Olympics and protecting Brazil's economy.   I have a feeling that will come first.