Infants are most at risk from Zika, as mothers can pass the infection on to their fetus, leading to microcephaly – a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and developmental delays.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has issued a travel advisory for 14 South American countries due to an outbreak of Zika Virus.
Last week’s alert included Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela.
Health officials ask women who are pregnant to try and postpone trips to these areas and educate themselves in order to protect their health and their babies.
“Your cranium expands in order to accommodate the growth of your brain and these babies have neuro-developmental anomalies essentially”, said Dr. Ricks-Cord. If you must travel to these areas, or you are trying to become pregnant and are planning travel, the agency says talk to your healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. No medicine or vaccine exists against the virus, which causes symptoms like rash, fever, pink eye and joint pain, and so the only cure is rest.
The Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), this week, recommended that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean be on watch for occurrences of the Zika virus, now rampant in the region.
The virus is transmitted through mosquito bites and “is not spread directly from person to person”, according to PHE.
The disease chikungunya first appeared in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin in 2013 and has since spread to 45 different countries.
While experts have not made a definitive connection between the Zika virus and microcephaly, one study linked the proliferation of the virus in Brazil to a rise in miscarriages in the country.
In March 2015 an Italian traveller contracted Zika virus after he visited Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.
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It is one of 22 territories that the United States has warned pregnant women not to visit because of the Zika risk. The two conditions that are needed for spread are groups of now infected people and populations of Aedes mosquitoes. The connection to Zika is still being investigated, and health officials note there are many causes of the condition, including genetics, and exposure during pregnancy to alcohol and certain germs and toxic chemicals.
