Health Ministry officials said almost 4,000 babies born since October have suffered from a rare brain defect.
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In northeast Brazil there has been a marked increase in cases of microcephaly, a neurological disorder in babies that scientists think may be linked to Zika.
Marcos Espinal, head of the Pan American Health Organization’s communicable diseases department, told the Daily Mail that “travel restrictions will not stop the spread of Zika”.
An outbreak of Zika virus was first noted in Brazil in early 2015.
The spread of the virus can be expected to escalate, as the mosquitoes that carry it can be found across the region. The CDC is also asking all health care providers to question all pregnant women about travel to the affected countries so they can be appropriately screened. Less than nine months later, the number of reported cases of microcephaly, where a newborn infant’s head is abnormally small, typically as a result of abnormal brain development or brain damage, spiked. “If they decide to get pregnant then take the necessary measures to protect mothers during their pregnancy they cover a large part of their bodies so they are not exposed to the mosquito which could cause Zika and a child with microcephaly”, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added eight countries/territories to its Zika virus travel alert: Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa. If you have had recent (within the last 14 days) travel to the Caribbean, South or Central America and are experiencing the above mentioned symptoms, please contact your local healthcare provider.
The hardest hit country, however, is Brazil where more than 1 million people have contracted the virus.
The CDC recommends that pregnant women should consider postponing travel to the areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing, but it has also published guidelines for pregnant women who do travel to those areas.
So far, health authorities have only confirmed six cases of microcephaly where the baby was infected with the Zika virus.
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Testing began on the Berkeley woman after she experienced symptoms – a rash and achy joints – associated with the virus after a trip to Bora Bora and Easter Island before Christmas, according to Scientific American magazine.
