The travel alert applies to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Advertisement
Late Friday, CDC advised pregnant women not to travel to Brazil or more than a dozen other countries and territories where local transmission of Zika has occurred. If a pregnant woman can not postpone travel to an affected area, she should do the same, the CDC said.
Though the Zika virus is not a life-threatening illness, it has been linked to causing brain damage and an increased rate in the cases of microcephaly, babies born with small heads and brains, according to NBC News.
“That suggests a stronger and stronger relationship of Zika and microcephaly”.
A Level 2 alert is meant to urge travelers to take enhanced precautions.
If any of those women must travel to the affect countries, the advice is to stay and sleep in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms. Individuals can protect themselves only by taking steps to avoid mosquito bites.
Dr Petersen warned that the link is not yet definite and said that a team of CDC investigators is travelling to Brazil in a few weeks to conduct more studies and learn what risks face pregnant women.
Zika is transmitted through bites from infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which thrive in warmer temperatures. There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika.
Experts think that only about 1 in 5 people who are infected with the Zika virus develop any symptoms.
The Zika virus, which has been linked to an epidemic of birth defects in Brazil, is spreading quickly throughout the Americas. “There are plenty of resources in the Ministry of Health to combat microcephaly”, he said, referring to the malformation, which is related to the occurrence of Zika virus in pregnant women. “It isn’t as if it’s turning around and dying out, it’s getting worse and worse as the days go by”.
But this is the first time it has been transmitted on Ecuadoran soil, said Veronica Espinosa, deputy cabinet minister responsible for monitoring outbreaks. On Wednesday, Alberto Beltrame, national secretary of health care, said the government would invest $163 million to provide care and physical and speech therapy to those babies through the first three years. If you believe you may have Aedes mosquitos in your area, contact the County Vector Control office.
A doctor attending to the woman in Hawaii, who was infected with the Zika virus, was aware that there might be a possibility that the woman was infected with the Zika virus, and he notified state health officials.
Advertisement
The CDC has received reports of 22 cases of Zika since 2007, including eight in 2015 and this year, all in travelers who have brought it home. At least 17 babies were born with microcephaly, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Since October, doctors have confirmed 3,500 cases.
