"The Zika Virus Spread Is Our Own Fault, WHO Chief Says"

"The Zika epidemic and the birth defects it's causing are both the fault of governments that abandoned programs to control mosquitoes and to provide even the most basic family planning assistance to young women, the head of the World Health Organization said Monday.

'Let me give you a stern warning. What we are seeing now looks more and more like a dramatic resurgence of the threat from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. The world is not prepared to cope,' WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan told a meeting of the World Health Assembly.

Brazilian experts have been pointing out that the country once successfully eliminated the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses. Then the government simply stopped paying for eradication and prevention, and the mosquitoes came back."

Maggie Fox reports for NBC News May 23, 2016.

SEE ALSO:

"CDC: 157 Pregnant Women In The U.S. Have Tested Positive For Zika" (NPR)

"Zika Crisis Fuelled By Massive Policy Failure, Says WHO Chief" (AFP)

Opinion: "Zika Is Coming, But We’re Far From Ready" (Washington Post)

"Mosquito Hunters Set Traps Across Houston, Search for Signs of Zika" (NPR)

"How Zika Spiraled Out of Control" (Scientific American)

Source: NBC News, 05/24/2016