Geneva, Feb 1 (EFE).– The World Health Organization said Monday that the dramatic increase in Brazil of birth defects thought to be caused by the mosquito-borne Zika virus constitutes an international public health emergency.

The sharp rise in babies born with abnormally small skulls – a condition known as microcephaly – in areas suffering from a Zika outbreak “constitute an extraordinary event and a public health threat to other parts of the world,” the WHO director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, told a press conference in Geneva.

The WHO chief made the declaration on the recommendation of an emergency committee chaired by David L. Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“Zika as we know it, as we understand it today, is not a clinically serious infection. It’s only because of this association (with birth defects), if it’s proven, that Zika could be considered as a public health emergency of international concern,” Heymann said.

Despite the declaration of the health emergency, the WHO rejected recommending that any travel restrictions be put in place, not even for pregnant women.

The WHO confirmed that, to date, cases of the virus have been detected in 25 countries and territories in the Americas.

The official emergency designation is designed to trigger action and funding from governments and non-profit organizations, elevating the WHO to the position of the global coordinator for the fight against the disease and giving its decisions the force of international law. EFE