Why Zika’s Emergency Status Downgrade is Bad
In a declaration of defeat, the World Health Organization (WHO) no longer considers Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Although this may seem like good news, this decision in fact reflects the severity of Zika’s rapid transition from obscurity to a permanent threat to human health. The disease now joins the ranks of HIV, XDR-TB, Ebola, Marbug, Dengue and an exhaustive list of other killers that have spread around the world in record time.
The escalation in severity has been remarkable. First documented nearly seventy years ago, Zika was originally considered harmless. 80% of those originally infected demonstrated no physical symptoms.…