CDC expands Zika travel advisory as experts detail risks
Lisa Schnirring
CIDRAP News
Jan 22, 2016
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today added eight more destinations to its recent Zika virus travel alert, as its experts and those in Europe weighed in on the threat and Brazilian scientists published the first findings from the country’s microcephaly task force and registry.
CDC experts said in their assessment of recent developments that although no local transmission has been confirmed in the continental United States, reports of Zika illnesses contracted abroad are likely to increase, which may spark local transmission in limited parts of the country.
Meanwhile experts from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in their fifth risk assessment since February 2014, published a comprehensive report on Zika activity in all parts of the world. It covers advice for health officials, what’s known about the possible microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) links, travel issues, and screening considerations regarding blood, tissue, and semen donation.
CDC travel list grows
Countries added to the CDC’s level 2 travel alert reflect the quickly growing list of locations reporting local spread of the virus. New on the list are Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde, and Samoa, bringing to 22 the number of countries.
The move follows the CDC’s initial Jan 15 travel advisory recommending that pregnant women and those trying to become pregnant consider postponing travel to countries where Zika virus is circulating, and if they must travel to the destinations they should follow strict steps to avoid mosquito bites.
Samoa and Cape Verde are two areas where earlier local transmission occurred. The CDC said in its statement that Zika transmission areas can be hard to pinpoint and are likely to change over time and that it would continue to update its travel information as it receives new information.
The agency warned that the Aedes mosquitoes that spread Zika virus, as well as chikungunya and dengue, are aggressive daytime biters that prefer to bite people rather than animals and often live indoors and outdoors near humans.
Not just mosquito-borne
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