Three Britons infected with Zika virus linked to brain deformities in babies

The CDC added several countries to the list pregnant women should avoid in travels.

It has been linked to thousands of cases of a birth defect known as microcephaly, when babies are born with abnormally small heads, which can cause brain damage. Now, the CDC is recommending that pregnant women avoid the following countries: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Martin, Suriname, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde, and Samoa.

“In response, health authorities in several countries, including Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, and Jamaica, have asked women to voluntarily consider delaying their pregnancies”.

Health experts are unsure why the virus – detected in Africa in 1947 but unknown in the Americas until past year – is spreading so rapidly in Brazil and neighboring countries. A report published Friday by the federal health agency said imported cases of the mosquito-borne illness may result in local transmission in limited areas of the continental U.S.

So far, there is no specific antiviral treatment for Zika virus, and no vaccine or drug could prevent Zika virus infection.

The Zika virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

The Foreign Office advised Britons to seek advice before travelling anywhere where the virus has been reported in the a year ago “particularly if you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant”.

“For most people who get infected it’s quite minor – fever, aches, pains and a skin rash”, he told BBC News.

Since last May, the virus carried by mosquitoes has centralized in South America and Central America.

The warning came as many people prepared to travel to and around Brazil for the February carnival-not to mention a few months before visitors from around the world will come for the Olympics.

“The problem is in South America because women who are pregnant at the time of infection have given birth with microcephaly, which is a severe deformity and has severe consequences”.

The Salvadorean 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.