United, American offering refunds for travel to Zika areas

The alert followed reports out of Brazil of incomplete brain development (microcephaly) in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant.

Meg Mirivel, interim public information officer at the Arkansas Department of Health says the patient is out of the infection period, meaning they are no longer at risk of spreading the virus.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian cruise lines are allowing pregnant women to reschedule their journeys if they had booked a cruise to a destination where a Zika virus health warning is in effect.

They have, however, warned pregnant women to avoid visiting countries affected by the disease, which is thought to be the cause of an epidemic of birth defects in babies in South America.

Symptoms are usually mild lasting only several days and up to a week. While the virus is not immediately unsafe for most people, it has been linked with an increase in the birth defect microcephaly which causes infants to be born with much smaller heads than normal.

The returning travellers in those two countries were not pregnant and the disease has not been transmitted within Europe or the United States. Zika can’t be spread by people directly – you’d have to be bitten by a mosquito that had already bitten an infected person.

The CDC says local Zika virus transmission has been reported to the Pan American Health Organization from 20 countries or territories in the Region of the Americas, with spread to other countries in the region likely. While transmission of the virus hasn’t occurred in the continental US, mosquitoes capable of carrying the virus are present in the San Gabriel Valley and eastern part of L.A. County.

The common symptoms of the Zika virus include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, according to the CDC.

Bursch expects the Zika virus to be concerning to US travelers as it spreads, and the impact would be greater if the virus reaches the United States.

Health officials also said Tuesday that a Virginia resident who traveled outside the USA had tested positive for Zika. She said the patient – a woman of non-fertile age – had contracted the virus when traveling, adding that there was nothing “dramatic” about the case. There have not been any cases reported in the North Country so far.