The UN's health agency has warned of the possible spread of the Zika virus to new parts of the world including Europe - even as the outbreak declines in Brazil.
The World Health Organisation warned Zika's range is likely to expand beyond Latin America and the Caribbean as summer - and the mosquitoes that transmit the virus - arrive in the northern hemisphere.
The organisation's assistant director general Dr Marie-Paule Kieny told a conference in Paris: "As seasonal temperatures begin to rise in Europe, two species of Aedes mosquito which we know transmit the virus will begin to circulate.
"The mosquito knows no borders
Dr Kieny warned that the added risk of sexually transmitted infection "could see a marked increase in the number of people with Zika and related complications".
She also said cooler temperatures in the tropics and subtropics meant the outbreak in Brazil, which has been hardest hit, was "clearly on the decline" - although she did not provide numbers.
Scientists are in broad agreement that Zika causes microcephaly, a form of severe brain damage in newborns, and adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death.
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