The mosquito-borne disease has raged in South America and other regions for several months.
Twenty-one
countries and territories of the Americas have reported cases of the
virus since Brazil reported the first cases of local transmission in May
2015, WHO's regional office for the Americas said in a statement.
"Aedes
mosquitoes -- the main vector for Zika transmission -- are present in
all the region's countries except Canada and continental Chile," the
statement said.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention urged pregnant women to postpone travel to Bolivia, Brazil,
Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe,
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama,
Paraguay, Saint Martin, Suriname, Samoa, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. The
CDC also recommended that women who have recently traveled to these
places during their pregnancy be screened and monitored for the virus.
That's
because the virus has been linked to an uptick in babies born with a
neurological condition called microcephaly, which can cause abnormally
small heads and serious, sometimes deadly, developmental delays.
The
WHO attributed the virus' rapid spread to the fact that people in the
Americas lack immunity because they haven't been exposed to it before.
. Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus
disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The
illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a
week.
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