MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The current Zika outbreak started in Brazil in spring 2015. It has since spread across Latin America, allegedly causing several deaths. The first case of the Zika virus in Europe was confirmed in Denmark in January, followed by Sweden and Germany.
"[The Zika virus] causes us to seek a comprehensive, regional, joint vision; seek common strategies… We reached very important aspects to tackle this scourge of the Americas in different stages," the minister explained.
The regional officials decided to implement "preventive and active" monitoring to tackle the virus, as well as to act regarding the people who are already infected, Guevara said.
"The active [monitoring] is what we are doing now because the virus is now imminent in our region," the minister said.
The preventive monitoring will be permanent, Guevara said, explaining that many countries in the region were tropical and subtropical, and the Zika-transmitting mosquito was becoming more and more resistant "to the actions we take."
To date, there has been no known vaccine against the Zika virus, which is thought to pose the greatest risk to unborn fetuses as it is suspected of causing severe brain damage in newborns known as microcephaly.
