A health worker stands in the Sambadrome as he sprays insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 26, 2016. (AP)
Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, has been linked to brain damage in nearly 4,000 newborns in Brazil. There is currently no vaccine or treatment for Zika, a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya, which causes mild fever and rash.
Here are 10 facts about this virus:
Zika is causing a widening health scare across tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, where it has spread to over 20 countries. On Monday, the World Health Organization predicted the virus would spread to all countries across the Americas except for Canada and Chile.
An estimated 80 per cent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.
There is still much to learn about Zika infections, experts say. For example, it is not clear how common Zika infections are in pregnant women, or when during a pregnancy a woman is most at risk of transmitting the virus to her fetus.
But El Salvador and Columbia have advised women to delay or avoid pregnancies, a move which has been criticized by women's rights campaigners and health experts who point out contraception and abortions are hard to access in many parts of these countries. El Salvador has advised women to avoid getting pregnant till 2018.
US experts say new studies that have been commissioned will try to investigate "whether or not a causal link exists between Zika virus infections in pregnant women and microcephaly in their newborn babies." Microcephaly results in babies being born with abnormally small heads.
Microcephaly is a lifelong condition with no known cure. In mild cases, infants often have no symptoms other than small head size, but doctors still need to check their development regularly.
In severe cases, babies may need speech, occupational and physical therapy.
In the US, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) is also working on testing new drugs that might be effective against the virus.
Travel companies, including United Airlines, have begun offering refunds or allowing pregnant women to postpone trips to regions affected by Zika with no penalty.
There are no global estimates for how many people in the world have been infected by the Zika virus, World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said on Tuesday. He said that because Zika has such mild symptoms, the virus has "not really been on the radar."
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