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.