An outbreak of a disease that could lead to birth defects is spreading quickly to countries in North and South America with the U.S. in its sights.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added eight countries to a travel advisory for women on Friday, saying that women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant need to avoid those nations.
In a more unusual move, El Salvador officials said women in the country should delay trying to get pregnant due to the outbreak.
The Zika virus spreads via a mosquito bite. The illness contracted from Zika is usually mild, with symptoms including a fever, rash or red eyes, according to the CDC.
However, officials are concerned about potential harm to pregnant women, specifically the risk of a birth defect that causes a baby’s head to be much smaller than normal. The defect, called microcephaly, and other poor pregnancy outcomes were reported in several women in Brazil who were infected with Zika, the CDC said.
“We don’t know what the risk is to the fetus,” said Dr. Edward McCabe, chief medical officer for the March of Dimes, a nonprofit health organization that focuses on birth defects. “The data is consistent that only one in five adults who has the evidence of the virus gets the fever and rash and muscle pains.”
So far there are no U.S. transmissions, but there are reports of some cases of the virus in the U.S.
Hawaii officials said a baby born recently had microcephaly and the mother had the virus potentially after living in Brazil in May.
There were also infections reported in Texas, Florida and Illinois. All of the cases were from people who recently traveled to other countries or territories, and none was locally transmitted.
The virus could spread in the U.S. as mosquitoes bite an infected person and then that bug can spread the virus to others, but officials say the virus isn’t very contagious.
The agency said the virus has spread to 20 territories and countries in North and South America.
In Brazil, one of the countries in the travel advisory, officials believe up to 1.3 million suspected cases of Zika were reported last year.
Last week, the CDC issued a travel alert for people going to countries and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico where Zika is spreading. The other countries and territories were Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela.
On Friday, the CDC added the following destinations: Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.
“Specific areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing are often difficult to determine and are likely to continue to change over time,” the agency said.
Since Wednesday, cases have been reported in Puerto Rico and 19 other countries or territories in the Americas, the CDC said.
“We know it is moving fast,” McCade said. “People don’t exactly understand why that is and why it is moving faster now than in the past.”
The agency said people who are traveling to the affected areas could become infected while traveling and not become sick until they return home.
McCade said the CDC has opened an emergency operations center to help handle any potential outbreak in the U.S.
“They say this is the lowest level of emergency operations but at least they have taken that step to try and gather the data and learn as much as we can and give the best advice to our population,” he said.
The CDC recommends that women who are traveling to the affected countries take pains to avoid mosquito bites. They should wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, use federally registered insect repellents, and stay and sleep in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms.
McCade said El Salvador’s notice to women to not get pregnant isn’t likely to work in the U.S.
“In the U.S., 50 percent of pregnancies are unplanned so making a recommendation like that may not have a huge effect.”
