Zika virus hits pregnant Colombian women

“Cases of suspected Zika virus will be reported to us from health care providers around the state”, Forlano added.

“It was inevitable that cases of imported Zika would arrive to Peru”, Velasquez said at a news conference. “It’s generally mild fever, rash, joint, muscle pain and conjunctivitis which is red, irritated eyes”.

The World Health Organization said Monday that the whole continent is susceptible to virus, except for Canada and Chile. The A edes aegypti mosquito is already established in the Indian subcontinent, Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States, and northeastern Australia, where it already transmits the sometimes fatal Dengue fever.

The National Institutes of Health also called for stepping up efforts to study the link between the virus and birth effects. There have been outbreaks in 26 countries, along with a spike in microcephaly, a defect that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads.

“What we have at this moment, in this country, is a group of women who’s in fear of getting pregnant and not knowing what will happen during the pregnancy”, a law professor at Brasilia University told the BBC. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains what’s being done to prevent the spread of the virus and how you can protect your family. The WHO said in Geneva on Thursday that Zika in the last few months has spread “explosively” to more than 20 other countries in the Americas and could infect as many as 4 million people. “However if you plan on traveling to Latin America, in particular, if you’re pregnant, or plan on becoming pregnant you need to speak with your doctor”.

Georgia’s Department of Public Health is urging caution for travelers headed to areas where the mosquito-borne Zika virus is prevalent, mainly in South America.

Only 1 in 5 people show symptoms, the rest don’t even realise they have the virus because there are no symptoms.

With more than 6000 cases registered in this country alone, the virus is particularly unsafe to pregnant women, as it could cause devastating birth defects in infants.

The number of pregnant women in Colombia infected with the Zika virus has doubled in a week, officials said. In fact, local health experts say Charlottesville is safe right now.