The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidelines on Tuesday for doctors and other health professionals caring for pregnant women relating to the Zika virus. They urge them to ask patients about their travel history to Zika-infected countries and territories, per the CDC website.

Healthcare providers are instructed to evaluate pregnant women if they have a recent travel to any of the 14 areas where Zika virus was present. These countries include Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Roco, Suriname and Venezuela.

A pregnant woman who traveled to these places will have to be tested for the Zika virus as well as for dengue fever and chikungunya. These three diseases are all transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and have the same symptoms of fever, joint pain and skin rash.

The Zika virus has no known vaccine available, but the CDC suggests giving acetaminophen to cure the fever. Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not permitted to be used on pregnant women if they don't have dengue fever.

Doctors should also advise their pregnant patients who are positive with Zika virus to undergo a series of ultrasounds every three or four weeks to help monitor the anatomy of the fetus. A maternal-fetal medicine expert or an infectious disease professional is expected to manage the patient's pregnancy.

As for those pregnant women and those trying to conceive and are planning to travel to the 14 countries and territories mentioned above, the CDC advises postponing the trip. If traveling to the areas with Zika virus is a must, they should strictly follow the rules in avoiding insect bites.

The rules include wearing of wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants and using insect repellents with diethyltoluamide, ethyl butyl acetylamino propionate, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus. It is also recommended to wear permethrin-treated clothes and shoes as well as sleeping in rooms that are air-conditioned and screen protected.

"There's a lot we don't know including how much Zika is in the different areas, or how likely it is that Zika infection in a pregnant woman will lead to the birth defect. Perhaps there's another factor which also plays a role in whether a child develops the birth defect," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told the Associated Press.

According to FOX News, Brazilian Health Ministry has reported 3,530 cases of microcephaly that is linked with the Zika virus. The government has already funded research to combat the virus that's causing the rare birth defect, where the brain fails to develop properly that results to a small head.