What is the Zika virus and how is it spread?

Colombia is the second country, after Brazil, that has been hardest hit by the Zika outbreak with more than 20,000 cases, including over 2,000 pregnant women. Prior to Ohio’s new cases, the CDC had reported 52 travel-associated cases of Zika virus in 16 states and the District of Columbia, an increase from 35 cases in 12 states since Tuesday. And many women infected with the virus are not waiting for abortion laws to be changed but are seeking out illegal abortions, according to one health official in Rio de Janeiro.

About one in five people infected become symptomatic, which generally involves a low-grade fever, rash and joint pain.

Alarms have been raised due to possible link between the virus and the birth defect that causes the babies to take birth with unusually small head and in many cases even brain damage.

Health officials believe all of the cases are from people who contracted the disease while traveling to affected countries.

While that might offer some comfort, there is justifiable concern – especially for pregnant women. The statement from the governor’s office said such cases “continue to be fewer” and further between, but the battle to break the cycle of transmission continues.

“To those who are not in a hurry to get pregnant, maybe they can postpone and wait next year when we know more about the virus”, Health Minister Janet Garin said in a radio interview on Sunday, suggesting they practice family planning methods.

If Zika is not, in fact, linked to microcephaly, does the search for an eradication of the virus end? He expects that we’ll see “hundreds or thousands of travelers returning to the U.S. And, unfortunately, some of those individuals will be pregnant women”.

Monique Davis, Health Education and Risk communicator for Hudson Regional Health, said, “We’re sharing information on our Twitter account and provide links to the state Department of Health”.

“It is beyond her competence to say that”, Archbishop Oscar Cruz said. On Feb. 14, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil declared “war” on mosquitos carrying the Zika virus, vowing the epidemic will not threaten the summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.