Three people test positive for Zika in New York

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is adding travel advisories for more countries because of the Zika virus.

Zika infection is a mild febrile viral illness transmitted by the bite of a Zika virus-carrying Aedes aegyti mosquito, which is the same mosquito which causes Dengue Fever and Chikungunya. Travel warnings have been issued by some nations as the region plays host to the 2016 summer Olympics in June.

Public Health England confirmed Saturday that, as of January 18, three cases associated with travel to Colombia, Suriname and Guyana have been diagnosed in British travellers. Thus, women in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador have been advised against becoming pregnant during the outbreak.

The government agency did not provide further details about the cases but added that the virus “does not occur naturally in the United Kingdom”.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman Christian Lindmeier said there were 3,893 suspected microcephaly cases in Brazil, which included 49 deaths.

While many who contract Zika virus will exhibit no symptoms, those who do should expect a low grade fever, muscle pain, joint pain, headache, rash, and – possibly – conjunctivitis.

“They could go there and hang out for a month and never have a single mosquito bite”.

Brazil is suffering from an outbreak of Zika virus, which health officials here say may be behind a spike in cases of microcephaly, which sees infants born with unusually small heads, as well as the paralysis-causing Guillain-Barre syndrome.

With the confirmation made Saturday, Zika is now circulating on both sides of the island of Hispaniola that the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti where one case of the virus was recently confirmed.

In 2015, Zika virus was reported for the first time in a number of countries in Central and South America, as well as in Mexico. An estimated 80 percent of those infected show no symptoms at all. “That’s why pregnant women and women who are considering pregnancy should delay planned travel to areas where Zika virus outbreaks are ongoing”.

The CDC says pregnant women should consider postponing trips to these destinations because the virus has been linked with microcephaly.

The hardest hit country, however, is Brazil where more than 1 million people have contracted the virus.

Earlier this week El Salvador recommended women avoid getting pregnant for the next two years, and some are taking that advice.

Health experts blame the chaotic growth of urban centers and the proliferation of plastic, which provide fertile mosquito breeding grounds, for the spread of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries Zikai. Colombia expects as many as 700,000 infections in the general population.