Pregnant women told not to travel to Brazil after birth defect epidemic

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning for pregnant women to avoid traveling to 14 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. There is now no vaccine for Zika.

Most have been concentrated in Brazil’s poor northeast, though cases in Rio de Janeiro and other big cities have also been on the rise, prompting people to stock up on mosquito repellent.

Liu noted the Zika virus has been linked to microcephaly – a condition where a child is born with a smaller-than-normal head and impaired brain development – in Brazil and Hawaii, where pregnant woman may have contracted the mosquito-borne virus and transmitted to their babies. Since then, the CDC announced the health alert for pregnant women who have been planning a trip to these areas.

As if we didn’t have enough worries with West Nile Virus, now we being warned about Zika.

The disease is spread by mosquitoes who become infected after feeding on a person with the virus, according to the CDC.

Noting that there is no specific treatment for ZIKV, Dr Harvey says it is critical that pregnant women do everything possible to avoid contracting the virus.

The government action follows reports that at least 3,500 cases of microcephaly appeared in Brazil between October 2015 and January 2016, the CDC said.

Last week, American health authorities confirmed the birth of a baby with microcephaly in Hawaii.

The Zika patient is in a stable condition and recovering, five other people living with the person and 10 colleagues were found to have no symptoms indicating infection and the CDC has investigated and disinfected the Zika patient’s living environment, Liu said.

The CDC has listed the Zika virus as a second-category notifiable infectious disease, meaning that doctors should notify the CDC of suspected cases within 24 hours.

“I have received the unfortunate news about the first baby born in Colombia with microcephaly caused by Zika”.

Dalley said the ministry is on heightened alert and is scaling up vector control activities.

Zika is named for the Zika forest in Uganda, where it was discovered in 1947, but it has since traveled, causing outbreaks in other African countries, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South America. Symptoms usually clear up within a few days.