CHICAGO, Shawwal 09, 1437, July 14, 2016, SPA -- The Zika outbreak rampaging through Latin America will likely burn itself out in the next two to three years, based on the fact that people develop immunity to the virus after an initial infection, British scientists said on Thursday, according to Reuters. The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Science, estimated that infections from the mosquito-borne virus will become so widespread in affected countries that populations will develop what is called "herd immunity." This occurs when a high percentage of a population has become immune to an infection either through developing natural immunity or through vaccination, making a wider outbreak less likely. That would prevent further transmission of the Zika virus for at least a decade, with only smaller, intermittent outbreaks, they said. "Because the virus is unable to infect the same person twice - thanks to the immune system generating antibodies to kill it - the epidemic reaches a stage where there are too few people left to infect for transmission to be sustained," study author Neil Ferguson of the School of Public Health at Imperial College London said in a statement. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for Zika. --SPA 22:46 LOCAL TIME 19:46 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w