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The World Health Organization declared the Zika virus and its suspected link to birth defects an international public health emergency on Monday, a rare move that signals the seriousness of the outbreak and gives countries new tools to fight it. ... At a news conference in Geneva, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the W.H.O, acknowledged that the understanding of the connection between the Zika virus and microcephaly was hazy, and said that uncertainty placed “a heavy burden” on pregnant women and their families throughout the Americas. She said that the emergency designation would allow the health agency to coordinate the many efforts to get desperately needed answers. (Tavernise and McNeil Jr., 2/1)

The emergency designation, recommended by a committee of independent experts following criticism of a hesitant response to Zika so far, should help fast-track international action and research priorities. The move lends official urgency to research funding and other steps to stem the spread of the virus. (2/1)

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said at a media briefing Monday that the primary reason for the designation was the "strongly suspected" causal relationship between Zika and the rare congenital condition called microcephaly. Even before that association is scientifically confirmed or disproved, members of an 18-member advisory panel said the seriousness of the cases being reported required action. Chan concurred, saying the consequences of waiting were too great. (Eunjung Cha, Sun and Dennis, 2/1)

The United Nations public health agency, acting on the recommendations of an emergency committee, called for more surveillance, research, and efforts to control the virus’s spread. It also pushed for the development of more readily available tests to diagnose the virus—none are commercially available now—as well as drugs and vaccines. (McKay, 2/1)

In Brazil and French Polynesia, outbreaks of microcephaly in newborns last fall caused concern among health workers, who also witnessed a rise in Zika cases. Babies with microcephaly have abnormally small heads associated with incomplete brain development. There also is a suspected connection between the Zika virus and the paralyzing neurological condition known as Guillain-Barre syndrome. (Epatko, 2/1)

Since the World Health Organization started raising alarms about the mosquito-borne Zika virus spreading throughout the Americas, deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies have been racing to find a vaccine. But a seven-person biotech company based in Rockville, Md., is trying something different. After a 21-day sprint, GenArraytion claims to have come up with a molecular test that can spot the virus in mosquitoes before it infects humans. The goal is to give health agencies a better way to map the virus. (Gregg, 2/1)