Nigerians have been warned of an imminent Zika virus attack
following a new analysis of travel, climate and mosquito patterns in Africa.
A research by scientists trying to predict the future path
of Zika say that no fewer than 2.6 billion people living in parts of Africa and
Asia could be at risk of infection.
Dr. Kamran Khan, the study’s senior author said that
countries with little amount of resources, should start early to plan for an
equitable use of their resources. Khan, is also an infectious diseases
physician and scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, U.S.
According to the research published on Thursday in the
journal, Lancet, some of the most vulnerable countries include Nigeria, India,
China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh, according
to the research.
Experts caution that the study could overestimate the number
of people at risk because they don’t know whether Zika had already landed in
some of these countries in the past and allowed people to develop immunity.
More than two-thirds of people infected with Zika never get
sick, and symptoms are mild for those who do and as such, the surveillance
systems may have missed cases.
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