The World Health Organization is calling for pregnant women to not travel to Zika-affected countries, as evidence mounts of a link between the birth defect microcephaly and the virus.
The WHO said on Friday that it isn’t recommending any travel or trade restrictions for the nearly 30 countries with Zika, which are primarily in central and South America.
But the WHO is now saying that pregnant women should consider “delaying travel to any area where locally acquired Zika infection is occurring,” a statement said.
The Zika virus primarily spreads through mosquito bites but also has been found in human semen, WHO said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aleady has issued a similar travel advisory for such Zika countries.
While the virus itself causes a mild illness, health agencies strongly suspect a link between Zika and microcephaly, a birth defect that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. Zika also may be linked to Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes temporary paralysis.
However, the Venezuelan president announced Friday that three people in his country died from complications related to the virus.
The CDC said earlier this week that two American women with Zika miscarried. The U.S. cases have cropped up in about 14 states and the District of Columbia, but those are almost all from people who recently traveled to affected countries.
There is only one case of the virus spreading from person to person in the U.S., which was a Dallas woman who had sex with someone who recently got Zika abroad.
CDC Director Tom Frieden told Congress earlier this week that tissue of two babies who died of microcephaly had Zika.
