Almost 4,000 people cases of microcephaly were reported in Brazil in 2015, according to WHO.
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Mosquitoes in Central and South America are transmitting the Zika virus.
Dr. Loren Robinson, Deputy Secretary for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Pennsylvania Department of Health says they’re keeping a close eye on the Zika virus outbreak.
The Zika virus has prompted a travel warning for two dozen countries, and cases have now popped up in the United States.
Official figures show 96 pregnant women are suspected of having contracted the virus, but so far none have had babies born with microcephaly.
Other carriers like Delta, Southwest and JetBlue airlines have said they are monitoring the Zika virus to see if it will be necessary to offer refunds to passengers who are concerned about the potential spread of the illness.
The mosquito-borne Zika virus is thought to lead to birth defects when a pregnant woman is infected, and is thought to have caused a recent rash of infants born with microcephaly in Brazil.
“We will win this war”, Rousseff said at a center set up in the nation’s capital to coordinate containment efforts.
The Zika virus was first discovered in Africa in 1947, but until past year, when it was found in Brazil, it had never been a threat in the Western Hemisphere.
There have been only three confirmed cases of the virus in Canada.
Today, officials also said the virus might also be transmitted through blood or sexual contact, although are in the “early days” of research and information gathering.
The World Health Organization has raised a global alert because the disease has affected about 23 countries in the Americas, especially in Latin America. For that reason, the CDC is recommending that women who are pregnant or may become pregnant not to travel to the 24 countries where the disease is widespread. Vaccine trials may start in people by the end of this year in the US.
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The government of El Salvador has advised women to avoid getting pregnant until 2018.
