There's a new virus called Zika spreading in South America, and on Monday it was declared a "public health emergency of international concern" by the World Health Organization, officially establishing it as a serious threat. Zika, which has no cure, has been documented in the United States, but only among travelers. And it may be linked with two more serious complications: A dangerous birth defect known as microcephaly A rare but often temporary disorder where the immune system attacks its own nerve cells Here's a rundown of the good and bad news about the virus. First, the good news: Zika is rarely fatal (no deaths have yet been documented in people with Zika virus and no other illnesses). Symptoms are similar to those of a cold or fever. People in the US are not currently at risk unless they are traveling to affected regions. The bad news: It may be linked with a dangerous birth defect known as microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads, so women who are pregnant or planning to be pregnant in the affected regions have some cause for concern. The CDC is also working to determine if there may be a link between Zika and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder where your immune system attacks itself, damaging the nerve cells and leading to muscle weakness and occassionally paralysis. In general, symptoms of GBS last anywhere from several weeks to a few months. Most people fully recover, but others may have permanent damage. In rare cases, it can be fatal. But that's not the worst news with Zika: There's also no rapid diagnostic test to detect the virus in a newly-infected person, and only about 1 in 5 infected people ever shows symptoms. Last week, World Health Organization officials said the virus was “spreading explosively” in the region and President Obama voiced his concerns for the Zika virus here in the US, calling for more research into ways to stop the spread of the disease. This is not the first time the alarm bells have been sounded. Earlier in January, Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told NBC News that he was "very worried about Zika." Hotez, who's also the Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said that while a single tourist is unlikely to be the cause of an outbreak here, some American cities could be vulnerable to Zika's spread, though it's not likely we'll see anything here that resembles what's happened in Brazil. For most people in the US, "there’s no risk at all," said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, on a call with reporters last week. Zika is not being spread by mosquitoes here at this time. Still, as the virus is rapidly spreading through Central and South America, "we have to act now," Hotez said. The problem with Zika: Low- level symptoms and potentially serious consequences Hotez added that one of the biggest issues with the Zika virus, which is spread by a certain species of mosquito called Aedes aegypti, is that it "tends to produce low- level symptoms." They include fever, rash, join pain, and red eyes. But there's a bigger problem, too: Once infected, only about 20% of people with Zika ever show those symptoms, according to the CDC. Plus, the illness is typically mild — symptoms usually last anywhere from several days to a week, and hospitalization is rarely necessary. But the virus, while not necessarily damning in and of itself, has been tentatively linked with a far more concerning problem: babies born with abnormally small heads, a serious condition known as microcephaly. After some mothers showed symptoms of the virus during their pregnancy, their babies were born with the condition. Since the outbreak of the Zika virus in April 2015, Brazil has documented 4,180 potential cases of the condition in babies born to women who were infected during their pregnancy — which would be 20 times the rate of the previous year. The vast majority of those cases, however, have not been confirmed.

let it not come to Nigeria ooo.
lets deal with Lassa fever first.