Colombia: 3177 pregnant women with Zika; no microcephaly

An exploding number of cases of Zika virus – believed to cause a condition called microcephaly in which babies are born with abnormally small heads – have prompted several countries and territories in Latin America to warn women to avoid getting pregnant. “I think it is too early to say anything about the role of climate change in the ongoing Zika outbreak”. “For us scientists, it’s extremely challenging to understand Zika virus”.

As of February 4, health officials in Brazil are investigating almost 4,800 suspected cases of microcephaly and have confirmed more than 400 – up from around 150 cases reported in a normal year.

Furthermore, a clinical advisory group will also be set up by the Ministry of Health to advise on the management of infected women who are pregnant.

New reports of microcephaly in Pernambuco appear to be dropping. “This is not a scientific study”, she said.

Cases of the syndrome – in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, causing weakness and sometimes paralysis – have increased in tandem with the Zika outbreak, fueling suspicions that it is a complication of the otherwise mild tropical fever, which is also blamed for causing brain damage in babies born to infected mothers.

Meanwhile, U.S. health officials said men who have visited an area with Zika should use condoms if they have sex with a pregnant woman – for the entire duration of the pregnancy.

However, there are predictions that 600,000 cases could eventually affect Colombia, the President said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now declared the situation an global public health emergency.

Luciana D’Angelo, executive secretary for health surveillance for the Pernambuco state government, says the latest test results “strengthen the hypothesis that there is a relationship between Zika and microcephaly”.

“To be pregnant at this time, when all you hear in the news is the Zika virus, is truly frightening”, said Juliana Aivazoglou Ebina, a 30-year-old resident of Sao Paolo, who is 8 months pregnant with her first child. The virus is contracted from the bite of a striped Aedes aegypti mosquito carrying the virus. One patient was a liver-transplant recipient and the other a gunshot victim. On Friday, local media reported the first abortion because of Zika infection.

Worries about Zika in the blood supply have been a growing concern for health officials around the world. The US territory has 22 confirmed cases.

The PAHO also said Zika can be transmitted through blood, but this is an infrequent transmission mechanism. The Zika virus usually clears the bloodstream within a week, researchers have said.

“That fact that the virus was found with the capacity to cause infection is not proof that it can contaminate other people through those fluids”, said Myrna Bonaldo, one of the scientists who made the discovery.

More than 3,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday, as the disease continues its rapid spread across the Americas.