CUBA – President Raúl Castro has called on all Cubans to help eradicate the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus and ordered 9,000 army troops to help stave off the disease.  Cuba has yet to detect a case of Zika, but the outbreak is affecting large parts of Latin America and the Caribbean and is likely to spread to all countries in the Americas except for Canada and Chile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

“It’s necessary for every single Cuban to take up this battle as a personal matter,” Castro wrote in a national message sounding the alarm over Zika, which is carried by mosquitoes that transmit the virus to humans. The virus is suspected of causing birth defects after infecting pregnant women. Cubans should clean up potential environments for the Aedes genus of mosquitoes, said Castro, who also is general of the armed forces.(theguardian)…[+]