Colombia has also said it had seen an increase in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder that can cause temporary paralysis, that has also been linked to zika. Though a majority of those infected don’t show symptoms, it is especially risky in pregnant women, as many believe it can cause serious birth defects. Another infectious disease expert, Pontzer noted the reason it spread so fast once it first appeared in Brazil was likely the lack of a “herd immunity” acquired in Africa and Asia.
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In a statement issued on Friday, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the advice of some governments to women to delay getting pregnant “ignores the reality” that many women have little control over the circumstances in which that happens.
Jamaica and Peru reported their first confirmed cases over the weekend, with the Peruvian President Ollanta Humala stressing that the patient contracted the disease outside of the country.
While Zika virus can’t be spread directly from person-to-person, it can be transmitted when a mosquito bites an infected person and then bites other people. And it wasn’t until November that a Rio de Janeiro laboratory made a link between the virus and microcephaly, which can lead to abnormally small brains in developing babies.
Brazil has reported as many as 1.5 million cases of Zika infection.
But the virus can be very serious for women of child-bearing age. It has reported about 3,700 cases of microcephaly that are strongly suspected to be related to Zika. If successful, the vaccine might be used during a public health emergency by October or November, said Kobinger, who helped develop a trial vaccine for the Ebola virus. In comparison, the country had no more than 150 cases in the whole of 2014.
The government expects more than 600,000 people to become infected with the Zika virus in Colombia this year, and projects some 500 cases of microcephaly.
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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is advising pregnant women to avoid travel in areas where Zika is active. In fact, according to 2016 data from the Center For Reproductive rights, it is one of four nations that denies women abortions regardless of circumstance.
