New ways of fighting Zika needed after dengue problems

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says that traditional insecticide spraying has had no significant impact in slowing dengue, raising major questions about how officials might stop the spread of the Zika virus, also spread by mosquitoes.

Brazilian authorities have tried to fight mosquitoes for decades, such as with techniques like deploying insecticide-sprayers in colored suits in rural areas or sending out advisers to help city residents identify and root out their breeding places in homes.

Last month, WHO declared the explosive spread of Zika in the Americas to be a global emergency, due to its link to the spike in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads and the rise in a rare neurological syndrome that can cause paralysis and death.

[...] Zika has triggered outbreaks in 41 countries, although confirmed cases linking Zika to babies with birth defects have only been seen in Brazil and French Polynesia.