UK Government releases travel warning for pregnant women
Pregnant women are officially advised not to travel to countries affected by the Zika virus outbreak
The UK government issued a travel warning for pregnant women, cautioning not to visit the following hot-spots, as almost 5 million UK citizens travelled to South and Central America and the Caribbean in the past 4 years:
Barbados
Bolivia
Brazil
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
French Guiana
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Martinique
Mexico
Panama
Paraguay
Puerto Rico
Saint Martin
Suriname
U.S. Virgin Islands
Venezuela
Samoa
Cape Verde
According to Dr. Dipti Patel's statement, director of the UK's National Travel Health Network and Centre, "all travellers, especially pregnant women going to an area with active Zika virus transmission should ensure they seek travel health advice from their GP or a travel clinic well in advance of their trip.”
"We strongly advise all travellers to avoid mosquito bites and urge pregnant women to consider avoiding travel to areas reporting active Zika transmission. If travel to these areas is unavoidable, or they live in areas where Zika virus transmission is occurring, they should take scrupulous insect bite avoidance measures both during daytime and nighttime hours", he added.
The Zika virus, for which science has not yet developed any vaccine or treatment, is often insidious and has no clear signs or symptoms in adults. Only one in five infected people usually show symptoms of this Aedes mosquito-borne condition, such as fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis.
Nevertheless, it can have devastating effects on unborn children, transmitted from an infected mother during pregnancy. The new-born child can develop microcephaly, a serious disease that translates into an abnormally small brain dimension.
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