Zika virus travel warnings spread to Africa and Oceania

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday extended the list of territories on its no-go list for pregnant women.

One week ago, the CDC issued a travel warning for pregnant women or women planning to get pregnant for the following countries and territories: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.

Researchers in Brazil and PAHO say there is growing evidence that links Zika to microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which babies are born with smaller than normal heads and brains.

While the link between Zika virus infection, microcephaly and other poor pregnancy outcomes is not well understood, pregnant women in any trimester are still advised to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.

To prevent Zika, health officials recommend avoiding mosquito bites by using nets and repellents for the skin.

About 1 in 5 people infected become ill and can develop fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis.

Patton said the specific types of mosquitoes, Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus, that are known to carry the Zika Virus are not in South Dakota.

Zika has also been reported in the United States: three cases were detected in Florida in people who had recently traveled to Latin America.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that was first isolated from a monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947.

Before a year ago there were about 160 cases of microcephaly in Brazil on average.

They come as the USA warned pregnant women against travel to 22 countries that are experiencing Zika outbreaks, most in Latin America and the Caribbean. El Salvador advised women to delay pregnancy for two years until the virus settles down.

Dr Hilary Kirkbride, travel and migrant health expert at PHE, said: “The symptoms of Zika are similar to other mosquito-borne infections such as dengue, chikungunya and malaria so laboratory testing is essential for the correct diagnosis”.

From 2007 to 2014, 14 US residents tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling overseas, CDC officials said last week.

Brazil’s health ministry says there have been 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly since October, when the authorities first noticed a surge, up from 3,500 in last week’s report.

CDC director Dr Tom Frieden disclosed the agency’s priority was to alert pregnant women to the situations, though there are a lot of lingering questions.