After doctors discovered multiple confirmed cases of the Zika virus on U.S. soil, the World Health Organization announced Thursday that it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss stopping the virus’ spread across the Americas.
“The level of alarm is extremely high, as is the level of uncertainty. Questions abound. We need to get some answers quickly,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Geneva Thursday.
To date, Zika virus cases — transferred through the bites of infected mosquitos — have been confirmed 11 states and the District of Columbia and 23 countries other countries across Central and South America, though the CDC’s Lyle Peterson notes that the number is “growing rapidly.”
“This is something we really don’t know how to handle,” LSU’s Dr. Corey Hebert explained during a Thursday MSNBC interview. “To be able to exterminate all the mosquitos in the United States is not possible … so it’s something that’s going to be very scary.”