Health officials in Pennsylvania testing several people for Zika virus

Now that it’s potentially linked to a serious birth defect – babies born with microcephaly (smaller heads), which affects brain development – there is much more concern. Overall, more than 20,000 people in Colombia have developed Zika.

He said the government decided to make the announcement because 5,397 cases of the Zika virus had been detected in El Salvador in 2015 and the first few days of this year.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), in collaboration with the World Health Organization, has this week sent an update on the Zika virus infection to public health ministries and health professionals in the Pacific Islands region.

Brazil has reported as many as 1.5 million cases of Zika infection.

But the DOH said it is not seeing any possibility of imposing travel restrictions to countries where Zika virus cases have been reported. There is no vaccine or medicine to prevent or treat it and the virus could spread in India if an affected person travels from Brazil to India.

“I don’t want to give misconception here, we’re expecting there to be some local transmission, but based on the experience with the other mosquito borne viruses and those areas in the southern united states, we are not expecting really big hard to control ones”, Schuchat said. “However, a large majority of people who contract the virus are asymptomatic, and in the case where a person feels symptoms, they are usually mild”.

Mosquitoes in Central and South America are transmitting the Zika virus.

Does the Zika virus cause birth defects when a pregnant woman is infected?

Colombia has also said it has seen an increase in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder that can cause temporary paralysis, that has also been linked to Zika. It had detected 12 such cases a week ago.

Dr. Barnes said her clinic has not yet treated any patients with Zika. Therefore, DSHSrecommends that all travelers returning to Texas from areas affected by Zika avoid mosquito bites for one week following return or following onset of illness. There are three known cases in New York City.