BRIEFING AND EXPERT REACTION: Zika virus outbreak
Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2016-01-29 11:30
Zika virus has hit the headlines recently, as the disease continues to spread through Brazil and around the world. The WHO has announced that cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the Americas, and that the disease is spreading explosively, with the potential for 3 - 4 million cases in the next year. Zika is spread by Aedes mosquitoes and, if contracted by pregnant women, is thought to be behind a big rise in cases of microcephaly - a severe deformity in which infants are born with abnormally small heads - in Brazil. A recording is now available of a background briefing, where experts discussed what we know about the virus and its spread, and the likelihood of it reaching Australia and spreading through the country.
Organisation/s: Australian Science Media Centre, The University of Sydney, The Australian National University, University of South Australia, Monash University
Media release
From: World Health Organisation
*Briefing recording now available, see link below*
Speakers:
- Dr Grant Hill-Cawthorne is a Medical Virologist and Senior Lecturer in Communicable Disease Epidemiology, University of Sydney
- Dr Cameron Webb is Medical Entomologist and Principal Hospital Scientist at the University of Sydney
- Professor Lyn Gilbert, is Clinical Lead, Infection Prevention and Control, Western Sydney Local Health Network and Marie Bashir Institute, University of Sydney.
The briefing was chaired by Professor Tania Sorrell from Sydney Medical School.
DATE: 2nd Feb 2016
START TIME: 10:00am AEDT
DURATION: 53 minutes
VENUE: University of Sydney and Online
Attachments:
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World Health Organisation
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World Health Organisation
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World Health Organisation
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Australian Science Media Centre
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World Health Organization
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Expert Recommendations
This expert list has been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives and reflect independent opinion on this topic.
Name |
Organisation |
Contact |
Expertise |
Dr Cameron Webb |
The University of Sydney |
cameron.webb@health.nsw.gov.au |
Mosquito, mosquitoes, mosquito-borne disease, Ross River virus, Ross River fever, Barmah Forest virus, dengue, mosquito control, insect repellents, why mosquitoes bite, wetlands, constructed wetlands. |
Expert Reaction
These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.
Associate Professor Ian Mackay is a Virologist at The University of Queensland
Professor Edward Holmes is a NHMRC Australia Fellow at the Charles Perkins Centre, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney