270 of 4180 Suspected Microcephaly Cases Confirmed

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning pregnant women against travel to those areas.

A Zika virus case was also confirmed in Sweden last summer, said Sara Rorbecker of the Swedish Public Health Agency. Rio de Janeiro will host the August 5-21 Olympic games.

With the mosquito borne virus spreading through Brazil and the Americas, pregnant women are being given differing advice over how to protect themselves against the possibility that their babies may develop microcephaly, the debilitating illness associated with Zika.

The virus has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya.

Castro also said the government would distribute mosquito repellent to some 400,000 pregnant women who receive cash-transfer benefits.

Since Zika, a flu-like disease that originated in Africa, arrived in Latin America a year ago, there has been a jump in babies born with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, a birth defect that can cause brain damage and death.

The best way to prevent the virus is the same way to prevent a mosquito bite.

The Arkansas Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed that a resident of that state who had also recently traveled out of the country tested positive for Zika.

Brazilian health officials estimate they had 150 cases of microcephaly in all of 2014 and the surge in suspected cases and the possible link to Zika have caused worries across Latin America’s biggest nation and in other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

United Airlines said customers booked to fly to areas affected by the virus can reschedule or get refunds. Officials in El Salvador have gone so far as to advise against pregnancy until the year 2018, when they hope to have the virus better controlled in the country.

Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria visited the city of Ibague, a hotbed of Zika, to start a “Tour of Colombia” campaign to educate local officials on how to fight the mosquitoes.