President Juan Manuel Santos announced last Saturday that Colombia has diagnosed a total of 3,177 cases of pregnant women with Zika virus, per the Associated Press. The good news is that no microcephaly, a birth defect related to the mosquito-borne disease was recorded.

Colombia has recorded more than 25,600 cases of the virus brought on by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Santos noted that his country could have a total of more than 600,000 Zika virus cases with a projection of 1,000 cases of the Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare nervous condition that can cause paralysis and death as reported by RT News.

Martha Lucia Ospina of Colombia's National Health Institute also confirmed three deaths that were related to the syndrome. "We have confirmed and attributed three deaths to Zika. In this case, the three deaths were preceded by Guillain-Barre syndrome," Ospina told teleSUR.

"The world is realizing that Zika can be deadly. The mortality rate is not very high, but it can be deadly," she added.

According to a Reuters report, the Colombia government will continue to fumigate homes to disrupt mosquito reproduction and help people remove stagnant water that is breeding grounds for these insects. The province of Norte de Santander near the Venezuelan border accounts for about 31 percent of the Colombia's total cases in pregnant women.

The Latin nation's popular tourist attractions near the Caribbean like Cartagena and Santa Marta have reported more than 11,000 cases. A local bulletin reported that the government is allowing pregnant women diagnosed with Zika virus to access their restricted abortion services.

However, many women are having a hard time to find clinics that will perform the abortion despite having the government's blessing. Illegal abortions are widespread in Colombia with one local media reporting the first abortion due to the Zika virus happened last Friday.

President Santos added that a medical-scientific team from the United States will soon arrive in Colombia to help the investigation of the Zika virus in relation to its links with microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome. The White House announced on its official website that the U.S. and Colombia will conduct a joint research to develop testing and vaccines with the two countries sharing epidemiological date and specimen.

The World Health Organization declared the Zika virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern last Feb. 1. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan called for the quick improvement of the detection of Zika infections as well as the development of a vaccine to protect pregnant women who are at high risk.