Zika Virus Spreads to 20 Latin American Countries

The U.S. Virgin Islands reported its first case of Zika virus Friday. Since then the disease has spread to 18 other countries in south and central America and the Caribbean.

With news of more birth defects linked to the Zika virus in Brazil prompting the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue travel advisories for affected countries, here is a primer for travelers.

In Colombia, which has the second-highest Zika infection rate after Brazil, the government is also advising women to delay becoming pregnant, but only for six to eight months. Authorities have also advised pregnant women to not travel to countries where the virus is spreading.

“No specific antiviral treatment is available for Zika virus disease”, the CDC reported.

Acute symptoms of Zika can last from four to seven days and includes fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, eyeball pain, weakness, red rash consisting of small bumps, swelling in the lower limbs, anorexia, vomiting and diarrhea, abdominal pain and conjunctivitis.

Preventative measures focus on general mosquito bite prevention, such as using insecticides, and special nets and screens.

A woman who returned to Texas from El Salvador recently gave birth to a baby affected by the virus and there is concern that native mosquitos across the southern United States could spread the virus.

The CDC conducted tests on human tissue from babies in Brazil confirming a the link between Zika virus and microcephaly.

The Fiocruz biomedical center in Curitiba announced it had found Zika in the placenta of a woman who had a miscarriage, proving the virus can reach the foetus.

In El Salvador, it’s recommended women wait as long as two years before getting pregnant.

Colombia and Jamaica issued similar recommendations for women to delay pregnancy earlier this week.

Health officials are now investigating if the mosquito-borne Zika virus is linked to a rare paralysis syndrome called Guillain-Barre.

SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-Health officials in the Dominican Republic say 10 cases of the Zika virus have been confirmed in the country. The mother was living in Brazil in May 2015. No one ever reported an uptick in birth defects before from Zika, but that could be because no one was looking.

The virus is transmitted through mosquito bites and “is not spread directly from person to person”, according to PHE.

The Zika Virus outbreak started in Brazil and has moved north into tropical locations such as Puerto Rico and Mexico. The new CDC report notes documented cases of infection from sexual transmission, blood transfusion and laboratory exposure.