Three Britons infected with Zika virus through mosquito bites

The Brazilian authorities believe the increase is caused by an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

All travelers to these areas are advised to take precautions, including using repellent and wearing long sleeves and long trousers, to avoid mosquito bites. The CDC recommends that pediatricians consider the possibility of Zika virus in patients who present with those symptoms and recently have traveled to an endemic area.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today added eight more destinations to its recent Zika virus travel alert, as its experts and those in Europe weighed in on the threat and Brazilian scientists published the first findings from the country’s microcephaly task force and registry.

The link between microcephaly and Zika fever isn’t clear yet, said Kuri, who noted that Colombia, a country with a high number of Zika fever cases, has yet to report a case of microcephaly. Brazil, a nation of about 205 million, estimates that 440,000 to 1.3 million people there have been infected, though the numbers are hard to pin down because there are no commercial tests and most people show no symptoms.

The L.A. County health department is also providing this information to officials at the consulates of countries affected by the virus, so they can inform their constituents about the potential health risks associated with travel to Latin America, Schwartz says. Zika virus appears to cause serious birth defects, and now there’s word that a pregnant woman in Berkeley is being tested for the illness.

The baby was born to a woman who had been living in Brazil early in her pregnancy.

The Daily Mail has reported that researchers have linked the rise in Microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which babies are born with smaller craniums to the Zika virus which is a mosquito-borne disease first seen in Africa in 1947.

In March 2015 an Italian traveller contracted Zika virus after he visited Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. By comparison, there were, on average, 163 cases of microcephaly each year between 2010 and 2014.

Cases in Brazil, Hawaii, El Salvador and Venezuela were reported over the past two months, the EDCD said, while a total of 27 countries reported cases of the Zika virus in the last nine months. It’s the Asian strain that’s spreading in the Americas, the ECDC said in a review of what’s known about Zika. “We know women can become asymptomatic and still have Zika”.

Zika is a flavivirus related to West Nile, yellow fever, Chikungunya and dengue fever, all of which have made their way to the U.S.in recent years.

Brazil is investigating more than more than 2,400 suspected cases of microcephaly and 29 deaths of infants that occurred this year.

Pleasant Holidays had received some requests last week to change travel plans based on the CDC’s Zika advisory, and the company said it waived its change and cancellation fees for those customers and is prepared to do the same for others.

“Unfortunately, there is no treatment for the virus or if your baby does develop the disease”, said Dr. Kappenman.

In its fight against the mosquito, the government has asked the army to help sanitation agents in their search for mosquito breeding sites.