He said the Zika virus had really constituted a public health emergency of worldwide concern.
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The survey results show the need for Zika-affected locations to provide visitors with more detailed information about the risks and what to do if they become ill, said Lori Pennington-Gray, director of the University of Florida’s Tourism Crisis Management Initiative, which conducted the study.
But Colombia, Mexico, Panama and other countries in the region have also reported tens of thousands of possible cases of Zika, which apart from the suspected link to microcephaly is usually considered to be relatively harmless.
The World Bank said it was making $150 million available “immediately” to the Latin America-Caribbean region to support countries affected by the Zika outbreak.
“The next step will be to do case-control studies to estimate the potential risk of microcephaly after Zika virus infection during pregnancy, other fetal or neonatal complications, and long-term outcomes for infected symptomatic and asymptomatic neonates [newborns]”, Musso wrote.
“Previous studies have identified Zika virus in the saliva, breast milk and urine of mothers and their newborn babies” after the mothers had given birth, lead study author Dr. Ana Maria de Filippis, of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, said in a statement. Brazil is investigating a surge in the number of cases across the country in conjunction with the outbreak of Zika, but have not proven that the virus can cause microcephaly. And other viruses that cross the placenta- such as HIV, herpes and chikungunya – can also cause microcephaly in human infants.
The women had symptoms of Zika infection – including fever, muscle pain and a rash – during their first trimester of pregnancy. The researchers took and analysed samples of amniotic fluid at 28 weeks of pregnancy. More research is needed to understand the link, they said.
“This will require the accumulation of evidence from a variety of studies from different perspectives”.
Researchers on Wednesday reported finding the virus in the amniotic fluid of two fetuses diagnosed with microcephaly, suggesting Zika virus can cross the placental barrier and providing another piece of evidence linking the virus with the birth defect.
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Zika is primarily transmitted by a type of mosquito, meaning current efforts to control the outbreak are focused on protecting people, especially pregnant women, from bites and eradicating mosquito populations in affected areas.
