News | Latest Breaking News Stories & Headlines

Kerala issues statewide alert over Zika virus

Zika virus cases detected in India's Kerala state

Authorities in India's southern Kerala region have issued a statewide alert after 14 cases of the Zika virus were detected, officials said.

Asia • 09 Jul 21

Many women who contracted Zika while pregnant had babies with microcephaly

Brazil declares end to Zika emergency

Brazil's government has declared an end to a national emergency over the Zika virus detected late in 2015 before becoming a global concern.

Health • 12 May 17

The infection has been linked to birth defects in almost 30 countries

Zika no longer international health emergency

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is no longer an international public health emergency, the World Health Organisation has declared.

News • 19 Nov 16

A school is Bangkok is fumigated to try to prevent the spread of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus

Two microcephaly cases linked to Zika in Thailand

Thailand has confirmed that the Zika virus had caused two cases of microcephaly, a condition that results in babies being born with small heads, the first time microcephaly has been linked to Zika in Southeast Asia.

News • 30 Sep 16

A hurricane is expected to make landfall in Florida overnight, impeding insecticide spraying

Mosquitos test positive for Zika in Florida

Officials in Florida have said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local US transmission of the illness that can cause severe birth defects.

News • 01 Sep 16

Zika is spread via mosquitoes and by sexual contact

Zika 'linked to severe joint condition in babies'

Experts have detailed a possible link between the Zika virus and a severe joint condition in babies.

News • 10 Aug 16

For every five people that have Zika only one will have symptoms

Pregnant women advised to consider Zika risk

Pregnant women or those planning on getting pregnant are being advised to consider the risk of Zika before travelling to Florida or any other area that has reported cases of the virus.

News • 02 Aug 16

Evidence of the virus in local mosquito populations can also be used to confirm local transmission

Florida identifies non-travel related Zika cases

The Florida health department said it is investigating another two cases of Zika not related to travel to a place where the virus is being transmitted, raising the possibility of local Zika transmission in the continental United States.

News • 28 Jul 16

The Zika virus is principally transmitted by mosquitoes

Zika outbreak could be over 'within three years'

The Zika epidemic in Latin America could be over within three years, scientists have said.

News • 14 Jul 16

According to the World Health Organisation, there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly in babies

Experts call for delay of Olympics over Zika risk

More than 150 health experts have called for the Rio Olympic Games to be postponed or moved because of the threat to public health from Brazil's Zika virus outbreak.

News • 27 May 16

Cases of the virus identified on the island of Cape Verde off Africa's west coast

Zika virus detected near Africa, Obama fund appeal

The strain of Zika virus that has been linked to thousands of birth defects in the Americas, has been identified close to the African continent for the first time.

News • 21 May 16

Serious brain and spinal cord infections are being linked to the Zika virus

Zika link to nerve cell infections explored

Scientists believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralysing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Science • 06 Apr 16

Two women were infected with the Zika virus in Vietnam

Two cases of Zika virus confirmed in Vietnam

Mosquitoes have infected two women with the Zika virus in Vietnam, health authorities have said, in the country's first cases of a disease linked in Brazil to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly.

News • 05 Apr 16

The Zika virus has affected 41 countries around the world so far

Laos reports local transmission of Zika virus

Laos is the latest country to report a local transmission of Zika virus, according to the World Health Organisation.

News • 05 Mar 16

The WHO has declared an outbreak of Zika spreading from Brazil an international health emergency

Link between Zika and nerve syndrome - study

French scientists say they have proved a link between the Zika virus and a nerve syndrome called Guillain-Barre, suggesting countries hit by the Zika epidemic will see a rise in cases of the serious neurological condition.

News • 01 Mar 16

Margaret Chan said part of the challenge in fighting the mosquito-borne virus was the fact that it is so "mysterious"

Zika presents 'formidable' challenge - WHO

The Zika virus, believed to be linked to the serious birth defect microcephaly, presents a "formidable" challenge that will be hard to stamp out, according to World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan.

Health • 24 Feb 16