Off the wire
• Guangxi reports 15 pct rise in foreign trade  • Polls open for Taiwan leadership, legislature elections  • 1st LD: Al-Qaida group raids Burkina Faso hotel, at least 20 dead  • Local gov'ts scolded over damage to nature reserves  • Police on New Year fire alert  • Trump, Bingham reach semifinals at snooker Masters  • Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Jan. 16  • Interview: AIIB to serve new effective multilateral channel for Vietnam, China to communicate, says Vietnamese expert  • Portuguese soccer league fixtures  • Joburg Open second round scores  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. gov't warns pregnant women against travel to countries with Zika virus

Xinhua, January 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant should consider postponing travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories that reported an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the U.S. authorities said in an alert Friday.

"This alert follows reports in Brazil of microcephaly and other poor pregnancy outcomes in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

"However, additional studies are needed to further characterize this relationship. More studies are planned to learn more about the risks of Zika virus infection during pregnancy."

The CDC said pregnant women who must travel to one of these areas should talk to their doctor or other healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to avoid mosquito bites during the trip.

Locally acquired Zika was reported for the first time in Brazil in May 2015, and the virus has since been reported in 14 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.

According to Brazilian health authorities, more than 3,500 microcephaly cases were reported in Brazil between October 2015 and January 2016. Some of the affected infants have had a severe type of microcephaly and some have died. Researchers have been investigating the possible association between Zika virus infection and microcephaly in infants.

In the past, outbreaks of Zika virus infection have occurred in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika, which is transmitted primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito

About one in five people infected with Zika virus will develop symptoms, which include fever, rash, joint pain, and pink eye.

The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and the case fatality rate is low. Endit