CDC Issues Travel Warning After Explosion Of Dangerous Zika Virus

The tests, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found a link between the mosquito-borne virus and a rising number of cases in Brazil of microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with undersized brains and skulls, said Lyle Petersen, director of the agency’s division of vector-borne diseases.

They also advised women who are trying to get pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant to talk to their doctor before traveling to those areas, and to take extra precautions to avoid mosquito bites. “We didn’t feel we could wait”.

Petersen said the virus is becoming a “regional problem”, and a pregnant woman traveling to Brazil is not necessarily at greater risk than if they were to travel to another country on this list.

USA health officials are considering a travel warning about Zika virus, the once obscure virus rapidly spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean that experts fear may cause birth defects.

In 2007, the Asian strain of the virus was detected moving across the South Pacific; Zika caused a large outbreak on Yap Island that year.

A virus transmitted by mosquitoes is being closely watched by health officials as they investigate if an increase of birth defects in Brazil is linked to the pathogen, known as the Zika virus.

In addition, if you have the Zika virus, avoid mosquito bites during the first week of the illness to help prevent the spread of the disease. “The question is, is this a new phenomena?” say Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

The Health Ministry says 3,530 babies have been born with microcephaly in the country since October.

The US State Department confirmed its first case of a baby born with brain damage because of infection by the Zika virus.

The CDC action was prompted by tests that found Zika, a mosquito-borne illness, in fetal and newborn tissue of Brazilian babies affected with microcephaly. When traveling to countries where Zika virus (see map) or other viruses spread by mosquitoes have been reported, use insect repellent, wear long sleeves and trousers, and stay in places with air conditioning or that use window and door screens.

Those symptoms appear within three to 12 days of the mosquito bite but in 80 per cent of cases the infection goes unnoticed, and it is very rarely fatal.

April registered the highest incidence of dengue previous year, with 229.1 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Zika was reported for the first time in Brazil in May 2015. The same mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus live in Hawaii and some southern states, therefore, there is a possibility that more cases may be discovered in the near future.

There have been no cases of anyone being infected with the Zika virus while in Hawaii; although, six people have become infected in other countries and then traveled to the state since 2014. About one in five people infected with Zika virus will develop symptoms, which include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (pink eye). “There is no medication and there is no vaccine, but for most adults it will cause [only] a viral-type illness with body aches and fever”.