It added Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.
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Canadian and American health officials say pregnant women and those trying to conceive consider postponing travel to areas where the virus is circulating.
The price of mosquito repellent has risen in Brazil, where Health Minister Marcelo Castro said a “war” against the Aedes aegypti type, which carries dengue, chicungunya and Zika, was failing.
As concerns increase throughout the Americas about a mosquito-borne virus associated with serious birth defects, Southern California public health agencies are taking steps to prevent illness among pregnant women and their babies.
Treatment for the Zika virus focuses on pain relief and fever reduction, with some patients also given antihistamines for itchy skin rashes. The symptoms typically begin 2 to 7 days after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito.
Researchers in Brazil said on Wednesday they had found new evidence linking the virus to increasing incidence of microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with unusually small heads. The babies were born in August through October and all had confirmed microcephaly, which causes underdeveloped heads and brains. But disease specialists in Brazil say that the virus may also be causing a surge in another rare condition, the potentially life-threatening Guillain-Barre syndrome, in which a person’s immune system attacks part of the nervous system, leaving some patients unable to move and dependent on life support. Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus bite both indoors and outdoors, mostly during the daytime; therefore, it is important to ensure protection from mosquitoes throughout the entire day.
The ECDC, headquartered in the Swedish capital since 2005, works with health authorities across Europe in fighting infectious diseases.
Experts said microcephaly may not have been seen in other Zika outbreaks because until now, they’ve occurred in much smaller populations. Pregnant women who have just returned from any of the aforementioned countries should be “evaluated for Zika virus infection and tested in accordance with CDC Interim Guidance”.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed over the past week a dozen cases of Zika virus in travelers returning to the United States. “However, concluding cause and effect is more hard to prove”, PAHO’s Espinal said.
Jamaica has also told its women to avoid becoming pregnant for the next six to 12 months. Specific areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing are often hard to determine and are likely to continue to change over time.
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The Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), this week, recommended that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean be on watch for occurrences of the Zika virus, now rampant in the region.
