No one can yet say why Zika hasn’t been associated with birth defects before, but the virus didn’t start spreading widely until 2007.
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On Wednesday, the number of babies born with suspected microcephaly or abnormally small heads since October had reached almost 4,000.
The CDC recommends that pregnant women in any trimester should consider postponing travel to the areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.
Although officials didn’t detail where those people are located, Erie County health officials confirmed there are no confirmed cases in the country.
Three cases of the Zika virus have been confirmed in the United Kingdom in travellers returning from Colombia, Suriname and Guyana, as the epidemic spreads to more than 20 Latin and American countries. The former could put a strain on the Olympics in Rio which is expecting thousands of spectators from around the globe.
Forty-nine babies with suspected microcephaly have died, Brazil’s health ministry says.
The Pan American Health Organization has also acknowledged the increase in GBS cases in areas where Zika virus is present.
The virus is transmitted through mosquito bites and “is not spread directly from person to person”, according to PHE.
Symptoms of Zika virus infection include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes, muscle pain and headache. Transmission had previously, in large part, been isolated to parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
Meanwhile the Hospital da Restauracao in Recife treated about six times the normal number of Guillain-Barre cases, neurologist Maria Lucia Ferreira said.
El Salvador today urged women in the country to avoid getting pregnant until 2018 to prevent their children developing birth defects from the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
“The virus found the flawless conditions in Brazil: a very efficient vector that loves human blood, millions of susceptible victims with no antibodies, ideal climate, and lots of places to breed”, said Ricardo Lourenso, who studies tropical infectious diseases at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Institute. Women who are pregnant or who many be considering becoming pregnant may be wondering what their sphere of worry should be – namely, if their co-worker gets back from a Caribbean vacation, should they be anxious? “Some people will pay attention to this and realize they are at risk for something, others are obviously going to ignore it”, he said. In 2014, just 147 Brazilian infants were born with microcephaly.
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The price of mosquito repellent has risen in Brazil, where Health Minister Marcelo Castro said a “war” against the Aedes aegypti type, which carries dengue, chicungunya and Zika, was failing.
