15.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of mosquito-born Zika virus a global public health emergency.On Monday,the global health agency held an emergency meeting in Geneva after warning the public that Zika is spreading"explosively"across the Americas.Dr.Margaret Chan,the director-general of the WHO,said after the meeting that the cases of microcephaly,which is a birth disease in which babies are born with very small heads and underdeveloped brains,in regions with Zika cases,"become an extraordinary event and a public health threat to other parts of the world."
Last week,health officials confirmed one case of the virus in Denmark,five in Great Britain,three cases in the United States and 18in its territory of Puerto Rico.The global health organization also predicts that Zika could infect as many as four million people in the Americas this year.
The symptoms from the virus are minor.The symptoms are flu-like and include a rash (皮疹).But the results for some infected with Zika--namely pregnant women--are destructive.The WHO suspects the virus may have something to do with brain disorders in babies.Health experts highly suspect there may be a link between the illness and microcephaly.However,a definite link between Zika and microcephaly has not been proven.
World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl has this to say,"So,one of the curiosities is why we have so many neurological (神經(jīng)學的) cases in the northeast of Brazil,but we have not had it in other places.So,we really need to understand what is existing that causes these microcephaly cases,for example,in children."
Hartl does not agree with claims that the Zika virus could lead to a threat similar to that of Ebola (埃博拉病毒).He says that Ebola is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids (體液) from person to person and kills about 50percent of its victims."Zika has never killed a person and it is transmitted by the mosquito.So,we know that there are those two basic differences at least.Let us say that Zika on its own would not be the consideration of an emergency committee.What is the concern to the international community is the possible link with neurological disorders."
(Note:Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS)
78.The cases of microcephaly are generally seen in the placeswhere there are Zika cases/with Zika cases.
79.Who should pay special attention to the infection of the virus to avoid its terrible result?Pregnant women should.
80.What puzzles the health experts about the cases of microcephaly?The cases only appear in the northeast of Brazil.
81.What causes the global concern is that the mosquito-born Zika virus maycause microcephaly/be the cause of microcephaly/be linked to neurological disorders/brain disorders in babies.