An expert is expected to brief reporters next week at United Nations headquarters in Geneva. The CDC added the following destinations to the Zika virus travel alerts on Friday: Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.
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In Colombia, there are 560 known cases of pregnant women who are infected with the Zika virus, and who are being closely monitored by health workers.
Colombia has the second highest infection rate after Brazil, with more than 13,500 people infected with the Zika virus and the disease could hit as many as 700,000, its health minister said.
And along with the increase in numbers has come a disturbing development. Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus bite mostly during the daytime.
Their assessment appeared today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Top image: Geographic Distribution of Zika Virus as of January 2016, via CDC.
Researchers at UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory, where Weaver is scientific director, will be studying Zika and trying to determine whether it is responsible for the jump in microcephaly cases and whether the virus has mutated. It does not spread person to person, and the symptoms usually don’t last more than a week, according to the CDC. A rash is one symptom of Zika, which nearly always causes a very mild infection. A pregnant Berkeley woman is reportedly being tested for Zika, the mosquito-borne viral infection sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean linked to serious brain defects in infants.
The first Brazilian case of Zika was reported on May 1, and 18 states in Brazil had cases as of December 1, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
Ko told us that human biological responses to the virus – such as immunity in already-affected areas – are not yet understood.
Ahead of the current Latin America crisis, cases have been identified in Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Those countries and territories include Puerto Rico, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela. The illness can not be spread by person-to-person contact. So far no cases of newborns suffering from microcephaly have been recorded.
“There is strong and growing evidence that Zika has a role in this”.
The ECDC recommended that all travelers take extra cautions against mosquito bites and that pregnant women, and those planning on becoming pregnant, consult with their health providers before travel and consider postponing trips to areas of increasing or widespread transmission. Typically, they live both indoors and outdoors nearest people and they lay their eggs in or near standing water contained in buckets, bowls, animal dishes, flower pots, and vases.
Twenty-five of the 35 babies had severe microcephaly, and 17 had at least one neurologic abnormality. In the USA, residents of Florida, Illinois, Texas and Hawaii have tested positive for the virus, and a baby in Hawaii was born with microcephaly. However, because of the associated risk of microcephaly, avoiding exposure to the virus is best.
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As in Colombia, little or no sex education in schools in El Salvador means girls lack information they need to avoid unwanted pregnancies, activists say.
