Zika virus infects 20,000 in Colombia, experts warn of epidemic

More than 20,000 people, including at least 2,116 pregnant women, have been infected with the Zika virus in the South American country of Colombia.

Colombia's National Health Institute reported on Saturday that it has recorded 20,297 cases of the infection, which makes it the second most affected country in the region after Brazil.

The report by Colombia’s National Health Institute on Saturday was issued ahead of an emergency meeting of the World Health Organisation on Monday which will decide whether the Zika threat – which is linked to an alarming rise in cases of foetal deformation called microcephaly – should be rated a global health crisis.

The World Health Organisation warned this week that the virus is “spreading explosively” in the Americas, with three to four million cases expected this year. Experts have now warned that the Zika virus outbreak in Latin America could be bigger to global health than the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people in Africa.

“In many ways the Zika outbreak is worse than the Epola epidemic of 2014-15,” said Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust told the Guardian. “Most virus carriers are symptomless. It is a silent infection in a group of highly vulnerable individuals – pregnant women – that is associated with a horrible outcome for their babies.”

Although the mosquito-borne virus' symptoms are relatively mild, it is believed to be linked to a surge in cases of microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head and brain.

Microcephaly is an untreatable condition that can cause permanent damage to the child's motor and cognitive development.

“The real problem is that trying to develop a vaccine that would have to be tested on pregnant women is a practical and ethical nightmare,” added Mike Turner, head of infection and immuno-biology at the Wellcome Trust.

With at least 80% of those infected showing no symptoms, tracking the disease is extremely difficult. The mosquito species that spreads Zika, Aedes aegypti, has been expanding its range over the past few decades.

Brazil has reported as many as 1.5 million cases of Zika infection. Since the outbreak was detected there last year, 3,718 cases of microcephaly have been reported, compared to an average 163 cases a year before that.

The National Health Institute said that 1,050 of Colombia's Zika infection cases were confirmed by laboratory tests, 17,115 by clinical exams, and 2,132 were suspected cases.

Women have been the most affected in Colombia, accounting for 63.6 percent of the cases.

The government expects more than 600,000 people to become infected with the Zika virus in Colombia this year, and projects some 500 cases of microcephaly.