El Salvador urges against pregnancies until 2018 as Zika virus spreads

Wall Street Journal reported the mosquito-borne virus infected five citizens already, including two pregnant women in as far north as IL.

Q: What is the name of the virus that is going around now here in Florida?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory last week warning pregnant women to avoid 14 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America affected by the virus.

The director of IDPH, Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., said that people in the states should not worry about getting infected within the country because the virus can only be transmitted via a mosquito bite. The condition causes the brain and head to be smaller than usual and can be caused by genetics, alcohol use during pregnancy or infections such as rubella.

The CDC has listed the zika virus as a second-category notifiable infectious disease, meaning that doctors should notify the CDC of suspected cases within 24 hours.

The Brazilian government says more babies than intially estimated have been deformed by microcephaly, thought to be a side-effect of the Zika virus.

He said the government decided to make the announcement because 5,397 cases of the Zika virus had been detected in El Salvador in 2015 and the first few days of this year. The list of these includes El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Hawaii health officials say a baby recently born with microcephaly at an Oahu hospital was infected with the Zika virus in utero, according to The Associated Press.

Fever, rash, and headaches are all symptoms resulting from the Zika virus, which is shared by mosquitoes.

“And they have a short flight range, so they tend to stay around structures, homes, buildings and people”, said Jim Fredericks, chief entomologist and vice president of the National Pest Management Association. While there is no vaccine to prevent Zika or medicine to treat it, the CDC advised that travelers can protect themselves from the disease by taking steps to prevent mosquito bites.

The Aedes mosquito is most likely to spread the virus, and is found in tropical climates including Florida.