Women in Zika countries should breastfeed their babies - WHO

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus. Photo: AP

Women in countries hit by the Zika virus should breastfeed their babies and there is no proof the virus can spread to their infants that way, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

Zika has been declared a global emergency because of its possible links to a spike in babies born with abnormally small heads in Brazil. The country has more than one million infections and the virus is spreading explosively across the Americas.