The new countries where the CDC is cautioning travelers to avoid mosquito bites are these: Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde, and Samoa.
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Last week’s alert included Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus is believed to be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that alters the brain development of unborn babies.
Brazil said the number of babies born with suspected microcephaly – or abnormally small heads – had reached almost 4,000 since October.
Canadian and American health officials say pregnant women and those trying to conceive consider postponing travel to areas where the virus is circulating.
You can protect yourself by wearing long sleeves, using mosquito repellent and keeping standing water around your house drained.
An adult who contracts Zika may experience a slight fever and a rash, as well as and pain in the joints and behind the eyes. “We presume that after an immunocompetent individual is infected with zika virus they will develop lifelong immunity shortly after infection as with other flavirus infectionsm but we don’t have direct evidence at this point”.
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. The new CDC report notes documented cases of infection from sexual transmission, blood transfusion and laboratory exposure.
El Salvador’s government this week suggested that women avoid getting pregnant for the next two years, and some say they’re taking that advice.
Fears the illness might be causing thousands of birth defects already has led authorities in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador to take the drastic step of warning women against becoming pregnant.
Indeed, the virus was first identified in 1947 in a rhesus monkey in Uganda’s Zika forest (which gave the disease its name).
The Salvadorean government decided to make the announcement because 5,397 cases of the Zika virus had been detected in El Salvador in 2015 and the first few days of this year.
“The virus found the flawless conditions in Brazil”, Ricardo Lourenco, who studies tropical infectious diseases at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Institute, told Reuters news agency.
It is plausible that Zika may have worse effects in people who have been infected with dengue or another virus before.
Since it’s not clear if the virus even causes microcephaly, it’s not at all clear what the risks are to a pregnant woman or her baby.
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He also expects the CDC to continue to expand the list of nations as the virus continues to spread.
