It’s now spreading locally in Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Advertisement
Transmitted by mosquito, the Zika virus can cause birth defects in pregnant women who are infected, such as microcephaly, where the infant is born with an abnormally small head and suffers from a undeveloped brain.
“Microcephaly is when the head is much smaller than it’s supposed to be, which means the brain itself is much smaller”, a local doctor explained.
Women in these areas are urged to take measures to avoid mosquito bites, including wearing long sleeves and trousers and applying insect repellent.
“For most people who get infected it’s quite minor – fever, aches, pains and a skin rash”, he told BBC News.
The CDC says the Aedes mosquitoes that spread the Zika, chikungunya and dengue viruses are aggressive daytime bites and prefer to bite people rather than animals.
Brazil also warned women considering getting pregnant. The kind of mosquitoes that can carry the virus are found in the southwestern United States.
In Colombia, more than 13,500 cases have been reported.
Not only has the transmission of Zika virus been documented from mother to child, but the latest CDC report states that the virus can be transmitted from sexual intercourse or blood transfusions.
The countries affected by Zika virus are likely to change, the CDC said, adding, “Specific areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing are often hard to determine”. In five of these cases, an infection with Zika virus was found.
So far 21 countries and territories in the region have reported cases of Zika, more than double the number only one month ago, according to January 21 figures cited by an expert from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the regional arm of the WHO. Researchers have not proved the link between Zika and Guillain-Barré, but researchers and public health agencies are looking into the possibility.
Scientists from Brazil’s Fiocruz Institute and Parana Catholic University published a study of a case that showed the virus had passed from an infected woman to her baby through the placenta. 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.
Advertisement
But because there is no treatment or vaccine – and the consequences for unborn babies so great – health authorities in Colombia and El Salvador have advised women not to become pregnant.
