Microcephaly cases in Brazil rise to 3893, linked to Zika

Symptoms include fever, rash, muscle aches or conjunctivitis (pink eye) during or within two weeks of their travel to any of those locations.

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. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already issued a travel alert to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Roco, Suriname and Venezuela, per the CDC website. It is spread through bites from the Aedes mosquito, which also spreads other tropical diseases, such as chikungunya and dengue fever. There, a mother who was infected with the Zika virus gave birth to a baby with microcephaly, a serious and sometimes fatal condition where the baby is born with an abnormally small head due to incomplete brain development.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito is common in warm climates, including Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Southeast US.

Since the CDC issued its travel advisory, Riley said she has had several calls to her practice from families asking whether they should cancel their travel plans.

Unfortunately, testing an individual for Zika virus is not a cut-and-dry matter.

The Florida Department of Health has confirmed a case of Zika Virus in Hillsborough County and two in Miami-Dade County.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the increase in the cases reported in the USA may not be the result of more cases arriving in the U.S. The virus is considered epidemic in the South American nation.

The alert recommends that women who are pregnant postpone travel to those areas, and that women wanting to become pregnant consult their doctors before setting out on any trip to those areas. Since the mosquito-transmitted infection appeared in the country last May, scientists believe it has infected more than one million Brazilians.

Schaffner said the new guidelines will be helpful in stopping the virus from spreading in the US, but there is no treatment or vaccine for the virus.

The mother reportedly fell ill with the virus during her stay in Brazil in May past year.

In Brazil, the suspected number of cases of microcephaly continues to rise, reaching 3,893 since authorities began investigating the surge in October, Health Ministry officials said yesterday.

– There are three reported cases in Florida; all three contracted the virus outside the U.S.