Brazil's president declares war on mosquitoes to slow spread of Zika virus

President Dilma Rousseff has said that Brazil must wage war against the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the Zika virus, focusing on eliminating the insect’s breeding grounds.

Since September, Brazil has registered nearly 4,000 cases of babies with microcephaly, a condition linked to Zika infection in which children are born with an abnormally small head and a brain that has not developed properly.

The jump in cases has prompted a global health scare, with several countries cautioning pregnant women against traveling to the 22 nations in the Americas where the virus has been reported.

Without a Zika vaccine and with little known about the causes of microcephaly, Brazil has few options available for fighting the spread of the virus and the birth defect.

The mosquito thrives in dense tropical cities, and Rousseff called for the elimination of stagnant water spots where it lives and reproduces.