The mosquito-virus Zika continues to spread across the Americas – Latin America and the Caribbean. Arrival of the virus in some countries of the Americas, notably Brazil, has been associated with a steep increase in the birth of babies with abnormally small heads and in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a poorly understood condition in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, sometimes resulting in paralysis. Here is a breakdown of the number of the current cases across this region:
BRAZIL: Officials said Wednesday they’ve found 4,180 suspected cases since late October, though only 270 of those so far have been confirmed.
COLOMBIA: Over 16,419 people are confirmed or suspected to have been infected by Zika, 1090 of whom are pregnant women. Of the total, only 798 have been confirmed by blood tests.
VENEZUELA: Non-governmental organizations say that the country saw more than 400,000 unusual cases of acute fever in the second half of 2015 that may have been Zika.
BARBADOS – The Ministry of Health is awaiting the results of 27 blood samples that were sent to the Trinidad based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to be tested for the Zika virus.
PUERTO RICO – at least 19 laboratory-confirmed cases for Zika have been confirmed.
THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – at least 10 cases confirmed according to the World Health Organization.
HAITI – at least five confirmed cases.
THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS – at least one.
FRENCH GUIANA – 15 cases confirmed.
MARTINIQUE – 47 cases reported.
ECUADOR: 33 reported Zika cases, 17 of them confirmed by laboratory tests.
BOLIVIA: Four confirmed cases of Zika.
EL SALVADOR: 2,474 suspected cases of Zika, 122 of which were pregnant women.
HONDURAS: At least 1,000 cases reported since mid-December.
GUATEMALA: 68 confirmed cases of Zika.
MEXICO: 18 confirmed cases of Zika.
PANAMA: 42 cases of Zika, including one pregnant woman.
COSTA RICA: One case.
NICARAGUA: Two cases.
SURINAME: No official numbers released but John Codgrinton, the head of the Academisch Ziekenhuis Paramaribo (AZP) lab who first confirmed that the Zika virus had surfaced in Suriname, estimates that there are now thousands of infected people locally.
What can travelers do to prevent Zika?
Zika, also known as ZIKV, is spread by the Aedes genus of mosquito, in particular the Aedes aegypti. There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika. Travelers can protect themselves by preventing mosquito bites, covering exposed skin by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants and using EPA-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), or IR3535, and stay and sleep in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms says the Centers for Disease Control.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women can use all EPA-registered insect repellents, including DEET, according to the product label. Most repellents, including DEET, can be used on children aged 2 months
