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.”
St Kitts and Nevis is joining other Caribbean and Latin America countries and issuing an alert to pregnant women that the ZIKA virus is suspected of causing serious birth defects.
Local authorities are meeting Tuesday according to Chief Medical Officer Dr Patrick Martin and will issue a press release on the virus.
It is understood that health officials here have stopped short of recommending delayed pregnancies , a measure suggested by Jamaica and three other countries, but are alerting women to take all known precautions to prevent being bitten by the ZIKA carrier the Aedes Egypti mosquito.
The US Centre for Disease control recommends pregnant women postpone travel to more than 20 countries in the Americas including Saint Martin, Guyana, Suriname, Barbados, Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico.
St Kitts-Nevis has no suspected or confirmed case of Zika, authorities said at the weekend, while reminding women that health clinic across the federation monitor pregnancies free of charge and mosquito repellents should be checked to determine if they are safe for use by pregnant women.
Experts describe symptoms of the ZIKA virus as including fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes lasting for a few days to a week. However, 80 percent of infected individuals have no symptoms according to officials Zika is not contagious but reports state that an number of babies that died had the virus in their brain and no other explanation for the surge in infections have been determined.
The Aedes Egypti mosquito also transmits Dengue and Chikungunya and is recognized by black and white strips on its body and legs. The female mosquito breeds in any container that holds a drop or more of water including flower pots, cooking pots, tyres, Styrofoam containers, plastic bottles, bottle caps, coconut shells, water storage drums, etc.Empty, abandoned and overgrown house lots also provide a breeding environment for the mosquito.