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Roundup: Latin America registers more cases of zika as PAHO intensifies research

Xinhua, January 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Ecuadorian Minister of Public Health Margarita Guevara confirmed 17 cases of the zika virus in the country Saturday, as the mosquito-borne disease linked to birth defects is spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Guevara advised women to postpone pregnancy, warning that the virus that can cause cases of microcephaly among fetuses poses a risk to women who may get pregnant before at least August.

But Guevara said Ecuador is "controlling and working" to stop the virus spreading to pregnant women by instructing hospitals and clinics to carry out ultrasounds and prioritize suspicious cases. No pregnant woman has been infected so far, she added.

Brazil is the country most affected by the epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday there were 3,893 suspected microcephaly cases in Brazil, which included 49 deaths.

Newborns with microcephaly have abnormally smaller heads, which can cause brain damage.

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic confirmed its first 10 cases of the zika virus Saturday, saying immediate countermeasures have been in place. According to the WHO, the Dominican Republic became the 22nd country in the region hit by zika.

On Friday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced that it had chosen Nicaragua as its base of operations, to study the molecular structure of zika and take steps in the fight against its carrier, the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

According to Guillermo Gonzalez, PAHO's chief epidemiologist in the region, "the strength of Nicaragua's community and family health model is an example we want to share with other countries, as part of our fight against the epidemic."

Experts from across Latin America will take part in the research there, including some from Bolivia and Ecuador.

However, Gonzalez warned that zika's arrival in Nicaragua was only a matter of time and cautioned authorities to take steps to ensure its rapid detection and control outbreaks.

Since May 2015, when zika began surfacing in the northeast of Brazil, over 300,000 cases have been registered in the region. Endi