A new virus outbreak is scaring Scientists globally

Zika has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes newborns to have unusually small heads and abnormal brain development.

Women in El Salvador and Colombia are being cautioned to avoid pregnancy due to the potentially unsafe Zika virus, but little access to contraception or abortion and pregnancies from rape leave many women unable to heed that advice, campaigners say.

This is what prompted the Salvadoran vice minister of health to tell women there not to get pregnant for two years.

The spread of the virus can be expected to escalate, as the mosquitoes that carry it can be found across the region.

The countries added to the alert include: Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Guyana; Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa; and Samoa in the South Pacific.

Aedes aegypti mosquito, a transmitter of Zika virus.

Most cases of Zika virus are acquired via mosquito bites.

“If you have recently returned from the Americas, including the Caribbean, and have a fever or flu-like illness, seek medical attention without delay to exclude malaria and mention your travel history”. “We presume that after an immunocompetent individual is infected with zika virus they will develop lifelong immunity shortly after infection as with other flavirus infectionsm but we don’t have direct evidence at this point”.

There is no prevention or treatment, which is why the best course of action is for travelers to danger areas is to prevent mosquito bites by using mosquito repellant and covering exposed skin.

Jamaica has not reported any confirmed cases of Zika, but the health ministry has recommended women delay becoming pregnant for the next six to 12 months.

(HealthDay)-The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)-the largest organization representing obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States-said Thursday that it supports new guidelines aimed at shielding pregnant women from the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

A spokesman addd: “A small number of cases have occurred through sexual transmission or by transmission from mother to foetus via the placenta”.

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

A reproductive rights activist in El Salvador said telling women not to become pregnant is not so simple.

Three people in Florida were also diagnosed with the illness, officials said Wednesday. No cases of locally acquired Zika virus have been identified, but public health officials have warned that Zika was likely to follow the Dengue and Chikungunya viruses to the U.S. The virus is spread through mosquito bites. Based on reports from affected countries, PAHO estimates there are at least 60,000 suspected cases of Zika, though the real figure is thought to be far higher.

According to officials, one patient is from Queens, and the other two are from Nassau and Orange Counties. “This one’s even more scary because of these birth defects where the infants are born with microcephaly”, he said.