PARIS (AA) – Scientists and public health experts from more than 43 countries gathered in Paris on Monday to explore ways of combating the disease, organizers said.
The two-day conference, organized by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, will examine data relating to the disease after it swept Latin America.
The center said around 600 experts would meet to “review the Zika virus infection situation in the Americas and to review surveillance and control measures.”
They are expected to discuss Zika’s links to microcephaly, a disorder that causes severe brain damage in babies, and its links to adult neurological problems that can lead to death. The experts will also examine ways of diagnosing and vaccinating.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Zika transmission has been recorded in 55 countries and territories since January 2007. A spike in cases led to the declaration of a public health emergency in February.
The WHO estimates 1.5 million people have been infected in Brazil alone.
In France, 176 cases have been confirmed in people returning countries where the disease is present, according to the Institut Pasteur, which is hosting the conference.
Little is known about Zika, which was first identified in 1947 in Uganda, and although the symptoms are mostly limited to a rash, fever and joint pain there remain questions about its links to other diseases, the length of time the virus can remain in the human body and the risk of sexual transmission.
There is no treatment or vaccine for the disease and scientists are concerned the virus will spread during the summer mosquito-breeding season.
