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UK reports Zika cases as El Salvador urged to lift abortion ban over virus risk

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Lalit

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Gosh! Planning Parenthood is no longer personal choice! Virus calls the shots!


[h=1]UK reports Zika cases as El Salvador urged to lift abortion ban over virus risk[/h]By Kay Guerrero, Susanna Capelouto and James Griffiths, CNN


CNN)Three British travelers have been infected with the Zika virus, health officials revealed this week.

"As of January 2016, three cases associated with travel to Colombia, Suriname and Guyana have been diagnosed in UK travelers," Public Health England said on its website.
The government agency did not provide further details about the cases but added that the virus "does not occur naturally in the UK."
Zika "is not spread directly from person to person," it said.


[h=3]Travel warnings[/h]









<img alt="Will Zika virus spread to U.S.?" class="media__image" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160117040525-zika-infection-map-cdc-large-169.jpg">



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The announcement came on the heels of last week's travel alert from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommending pregnant women postpone travel to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
On Friday, the CDC expanded its travel warning to include Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.
The recommendations also call for women who have traveled to these places during their pregnancy be screened and monitored for the virus if their visit took place while the virus was present in the country they visited.


[h=3]Pregnancy risks[/h]Zika virus is a mosquito borne disease. An individual becomes infected by the bite of an infected mosquito. Symptoms of the virus include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes and can last from a few days to about a week. But 80% of individuals infected have no symptoms.
The virus has been linked to an increase in cases of a rare neurological condition called microcephaly in babies. Microcephaly results in babies being born with abnormally small heads, and often serious, and sometimes deadly, developmental delays.

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<img alt="Dangers of Zika virus" class="media__image" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160101121706-zika-virus-aedes-mosquito-large-169.jpg">




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It prompted the Salvadoran vice minister of health to tell women there not to get pregnant for two years, echoing similar warnings in Colombia and Jamaica.
"We're recommending that women who may get pregnant plan their pregnancies and try to avoid getting pregnant this year and the next," Eduardo Espinoza told CNNEspanol Thursday.
Women's rights groups have called on the government to lift El Salvador's total abortion ban in light of the news.
"I think the Zika situation puts the total abortion ban into the national arena," said Astrid Valencia of Amnesty International.
Since 1998, El Salvador has banned all abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformation or where the mother's life is at stake.

[h=3]No treatment[/h]There is no prevention or treatment. Travelers to dangerous areas are urged to prevent mosquito bites by using mosquito repellant and covering exposed skin.
The aedis aegyptia mosquito, which transmits the disease, bites all day long, so individuals need to reapply that repellant and not let their guard down. Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which are found throughout the U.S. and are known for transmitting dengue fever and chikungunya, may also transmit the virus, the CDC said Friday.
However, mosquito bites and mother to unborn baby aren't the only ways this virus is transmitted. The new CDC report notes documented cases of infection from sexual transmission, blood transfusion and laboratory exposure.
Stephen Higgs, president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, told CNN that once a person is infected with the virus, it is likely that they will develop an immunity to future infection.


CNN's Debra Goldschmidt contributed to this report
 
More news on zik!

Zika virus expected to spread throughout Americas: WHO

Geneva (AFP) - The Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease suspected of causing serious birth defects, is expected to spread to all countries in the Americas except Canada and Chile, the World Health Organization said.

Zika has suspected but unproven links to microcephaly -- in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads.
The virus is already present in 21 of the 55 countries and territories across the Americas, the WHO said in a statement Sunday.
But it stressed that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries Zika and also dengue and chikungunya viruses, is already present in all countries in the Americas besides Canada and Chile.
WHO pointed out that since people in the region had not been exposed to Zika before it emerged in Brazil last May they lacked immunity, allowing the virus to spread quickly.
The UN health agency said it therefore "anticipates that Zika virus will continue to spread and will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found."
View gallery

Factfile on the Zika virus after an outbreak in parts of South America. Pregnant women are being adv …

WHO chief Margaret Chan told the opening of the organisation's executive committee meeting in Geneva Monday that "the explosive spread of Zika virus to new geographical areas, with little population immunity, is (a) cause for concern, especially given the possible link between infection during pregnancy and babies born with small heads."
She stressed that "a causal link between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly has not been established," but added that "the circumstantial evidence is suggestive and extremely worrisome."
- Sexually transmitted? -
A surge in incidents across Latin America, notably in Brazil, has prompted the United States and other governments to warn pregnant women against travelling to the region -- an alarming prospect for Brazil as it gears up to light the Olympic torch on August 5.
Brazil has recorded 3,893 microcephaly cases since an unusual spike in the rare condition was noticed in the country's northeast in October. Previously an annual average of 160 cases was the norm.
View gallery

Revelers wearing Greek style costumes raise awareness of the need to prevent the spread of the Zika …

Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Jamaica have advised women to avoid pregnancy altogether, an idea echoed by a top Brazilian health official, although the official line so far simply urges women to avoid mosquitoes.
Guatemala said Sunday it was raising vigilance levels at maternity wards.
WHO meanwhile has refrained from issuing travel warnings, stressing that the most effective form of prevention is getting rid of stagnant water where mosquitos easily breed, and personal protection against mosquito bites such as using bug repellant and sleeping under mosquito nets.
The agency said that while it is clear that Aedes mosquitos transmit Zika, evidence of other transmission routes was limited.
But it pointed out though that the virus, which in most infected people only means short-lived flu-like symptoms, could be transmitted through blood and had been isolated in human semen.
"One case of possible person-to-person sexual transmission has been described," the agency said, adding though that it needed more evidence to say the virus can be transmitted through sexual contact.
http://news.yahoo.com/zika-virus-expected-spread-throughout-americas-115045026.html
 
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