For that reason, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges pregnant women to postpone travel to regions where Zika is now present.
Advertisement
The Centers for Disease Control has issued a travel alert for pregnant women traveling to certain tropical or sub-tropical locations, because of an outbreak of the Zika virus. The list includes Puerto Rico as well as countries such as Mexico, Panama and Guatemala.
Officials say previous year in Brazil, roughly 1.5 million people were infected, but that has rapidly spread via mosquito in the area to travelers and more. They live both indoors and outdoors.
The virus was originally discovered in the 1940’s in a monkey located in the Zika Forest in Uganda, but it wasn’t until 2007 that multiple human cases presented themselves. Only one in five people become symptomatic with fever, joint pain, rash and red eyes.
“Zika virus infection does not pose a risk of birth defects for future pregnancies”.
Some countries with Zika, such as Brazil, have seen spikes in the number of cases of microcephaly, a rare brain defect in babies.
In Brazil there has been a growing number of cases of women delivering babies with microcephaly – incomplete brain development – believed to be linked to the virus and this has triggered the US CDC travel advisory and worldwide concern.
The IDPH recommends anyone who does travel uses an insect repellent, wears long sleeves and trousers, and stays in places with air conditioning or window and door screens.
It is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also known to carry the dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya viruses.
Three women in Florida have contracted the virus, and according to a Palm Beach Post story published Wednesday, the situation is so grave in Brazil that officials have told women to hold off getting pregnant. Fetuses with microcephaly do not develop properly: many are miscarried or die during birth, while those who survive are born with markedly smaller heads and frequently have developmental problems.
Advertisement
In Colombia, more than 13,500 cases had been reported, and the country’s health minister had advised women there to delay pregnancy.
