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France calls on pregnant women to avoid overseas travels due to Zika virus

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

French Health Minister Marisol Touraine on Thursday "strongly" recommended that pregnant women avoid travels to Martinique, Guyana and Guadeloupe where cases of Zika virus have been reported.

"Women who are in France mainland and have planned to go in Martinique, Guyana, or the overseas territories, if they are pregnant, I strongly recommend that they postpone the trips. It is a public health issue," Touraine told France info radio.

In limited cases, the disease can be very severe with neurological effects. For pregnant women, they can suffer complications, and their babies could have malformation, shed added.

Figures of the health ministry showed 102 Zika cases have reported in Martinique and 45 people have been infected in Guadeloupe and St. Martin.

Zika, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, has symptoms including fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, nausea and rash.

The first Zika case in Europe has been detected in Denmark with a Danish tourist contracting the virus during his stay in south and central America.

The World Health Organization said ithe Zika virus may infect three to four million people in the Americas, announcing en emergency meeting on Feb. 1. Enditem