What is Zika?

What is Zika?

According to the WHO, the Zika virus is a mosquito-borne viral disease that can cause a mild fever, rash, headaches and other mild symptoms in adults. Only one out of four people bitten by a carrier mosquito will experience the mild symptoms, which are usually gone after a week.

According to a study conducted in Brazil in November, the virus can cause malformations in unborn children, including microcephaly, a birth defect in which the head is abnormally small and the brain is not fully developed.

Chloe Demorovosky, director of the New York-based crisis-management group Disaster Recovery Institute, said Zika is similar to other mosquito-borne viruses.

"The disease is transmitted primarily by the same mosquitoes who transmit dengue fever and chikungunya and the symptoms are similar," she said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 8:19 PM with the headline "What is Zika? ."