Zika symptoms are similar to flu, including fever, joint pain, rash, headache and muscle pain.
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said Zika virus spreads to people through mosquito bites.
US airline United Airlines also said this week it was allowing customers with reserved tickets for travel to impacted regions to postpone their trips or obtain refunds with no penalty.
Health watchdogs in a string of European countries meanwhile said they had recorded Zika cases dating back to as early as March 2015.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)-the largest organization representing obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States-said last week that it supports the guidelines aimed at shielding pregnant women from the mosquito-borne Zika virus. An estimated 80% of people infected have no symptoms, making it hard for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.
Three British travellers are confirmed to have contracted the Zika virus after visits to Colombia, Suriname and Guyana, according to Public Health England. Through understanding prevention and treatment mechanisms for mosquito-borne diseases, such as the development of genetically modified sterile mosquitoes, the global community will be much better prepared to respond to and prevent diseases such as Zika in the future.
He added that U.S. health authorities are “mobilizing swiftly” to respond to Zika, and researchers at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases are already “working on vaccine candidates to prevent Zika virus from infecting people”.
As with other outbreaks, politics will decide if and how Zika will be controlled.
The virus can lead to babies having abnormally small heads and brains, resulting in severe disabilities.
The kind of mosquito that spreads Zika is found along the southern states, so experts think it’s likely the pests may end up spreading the virus there.
Such programs should include cleaning up garbage from streets, which provide “ideal” breeding ground for the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits Zika.
The CDC is also investigating if a rare paralysis syndrome called Guillain-Barre is related to the virus. Some countries have issued alerts warning pregnant women not to travel to Zika-affected regions.
The tally of cases of microcephaly in Brazil surged from 163 per year on average to 3,893 after the Zika outbreak began last year.
In general, the Zika virus needs a vector (a means of transportation) to infect people.
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Without a Zika vaccine and with little known about the causes of microcephaly, Brazil has few options available for fighting the spread of the virus and the birth defect.
