Twenty-two countries have been put on travel blacklist due to Zika virus outbreak fears. The United States sent out warnings for people traveling to the named countries.

The Australian wrote that the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US warned pregnant women to avoid traveling to 22 countries, most of which are situated in Latin America and the Caribbean. Included in the blacklist are Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, Barbados, Martinique, Brazil and El Salvador.

The CDC issued the warning after a baby was born with microcephaly, one of the symptoms of Zika, in Hawaii. The mother reportedly acquired the Zika virus when she went to Brazil while pregnant in 2015.

The Australian revealed that Zika virus is a condition that causes paralysis among adults. The mosquito-borne disease has also been linked to brain damage among babies in the womb. Doctors suspect that Zika causes microcephaly among newborn babies, causing them to have abnormally small heads and mental retardation later on. The disease has been spreading quickly all over Latin American and the Caribbean, affecting thousands of pregnant women.

Since the virus was initially reported in Brazil in May 2015, almost 4,000 children have been delivered with defects. Four countries are warning women not to get pregnant until the epidemic has stopped. According to scientists, the disease entered Brazil due to French Polynesian fans who attended the 2014 World Cup.

Leader Call stated that the Zika virus acquired its name from a Ugandan forest where the first infected rhesus monkeys were discovered. The virus spread to humans in Uganda and Tanzania after many years. The virus treatment is ambulatory, which means that patients must be treated and sent home. There is currently no vaccine and cure for the virus, so prevention is the best strategy.

Albert Ko, an epidemiologist at Yale University, said that the virus may have mutated to cause microcephaly. The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirmed that experts in Brazil and El Salvador are studying the links between Zika and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS).

El Salvador had 46 cases of GBS and two deaths from Dec. 1, 2015 to Jan. 6, 2016. The country usually has an annual average of 169 cases only. Brazil also reported a simultaneous rise in their cases of GBS.

Leader Call stated that pregnant women who traveled to the blacklisted countries are advised to be screened and monitored for the Zika virus.

More updates and details on the epidemic are expected soon.