USA It will test babies of women who traveled to countries with zika – El Universal (Venezuela)

Atlanta .- The US babies born to mothers who traveled to any of the countries affected by Zika virus must undergo diagnostic tests, according to new recommendations from health authorities given released today.

The new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that babies who have been exposed should be subjected to diagnostic tests in the first two days of life.

If babies have been exposed to the virus through mother and though they show no symptoms of the disease, health authorities recommend carrying out tests to verify that there are no neurological abnormalities, as is normal cranial and hearing and vision tests are performed, Efe said.

Also, advise physicians and other health care providers to monitor children who have been affected by the infection during pregnancy.

The CDC, located in Atlanta, issued in recent days, a travel alert in calling on travelers, especially pregnant women, “take reinforced precautions” if they went to the countries affected by the virus .

The countries included in the alert so far are Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, French Guiana, Martinique, Haiti Suriname, Barbados, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.

Although the CDC has not yet given a definitive link between Zika virus and increased births of babies with microcephaly in affected countries have extreme alerts as a precaution.

The CDC confirmed a new case of zika a resident of Arkansas that “recently traveled outside the country,” the state government, it did not specify the destination of the traveler.

Several countries, including El Salvador and Colombia have gone a step further and have even asked women avoid getting pregnant in the near future to avoid complications.

The infection has Zika virus because mosquitoes “Aedes aegypti” (also responsible for dengue and chikungunya), and usually generates mild fever, rashes, conjunctivitis and muscle pain.

So far there is no vaccine to prevent infection or specific medicines to treat the disease, that in four of five cases no symptoms, according to the CDC.