A top health official said he expects the number of U.S. cases of the Zika virus to grow from roughly 50 now to “hundreds if not thousands.”
Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said those cases would solely be from travelers who returned from countries where the virus is spreading.
About 40 million people travel from the U.S. to affected countries in central and South America, Frieden said, speaking during a call with reporters sponsored by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Pregnant women should strongly consider not traveling,” he said.
The Zika virus is spreading in nearly 30 countries and territories.
As of Feb. 10, the U.S. has had 52 cases of Zika, all stemming from people who got it in affected countries, according to the CDC. There is one case in which the virus has spread inside the U.S., a woman who got infected after sleeping with an infected man.
Zika is primarily spread through mosquito bites and causes a mild illness. But there is growing concern that Zika also causes a birth defect called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. It also may be linked to a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome that causes temporary paralysis.
The CDC has issued a travel advisory for women of childbearing age and who are pregnant for Zika-affected countries.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration called for people who recently traveled to a Zika country to wait four weeks before donating blood. That duration will enable the virus to leave the body’s system, the agency said Tuesday.
The caution is warranted since four out of five people infected with Zika show symptoms, the agency said.
The American Red Cross has adopted a similar warning.
The CDC has asked for $1.8 billion in emergency funding for helping to contain the outbreak. Congress hasn’t acted on the funding, with some Republicans calling for the CDC to use existing funding leftover for combating the Ebola outbreak.
Frieden urged Congress to move on the funding.
“The sooner Congress acts the better,” he said. “We are currently in discussions now to figure out what might be done as a bridge, but we are not slowing down our activity.”
