Travel advisory for pregnant women and Zika virus expands

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 23, 2016

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Friday added eight more countries to the list of places that pregnant women should avoid because of a virus that is linked to birth defects in Brazil.

The CDC’s travel advisory for the Zika virus says pregnant women should consider postponing trips to Mexico, Puerto Rico, five Caribbean countries, most of Central and South America, plus Samoa, and Cape Verde, which is off the northwest coast of Africa.

The advisory comes during the peak season for warm-weather vacations. While the CDC and doctors are spreading the word, airports and the travel industry aren’t notifying customers.

Bend travel agent Bernie Reumann, owner of Getaways Travel, said his customers are past the age where pregnancy would be a concern. He also said he believed Cancun, Mexico, where most of his customers go, is not affected. In fact, the travel advisory covers all of Mexico.

“It’s no different than an Ebola or one of those other bugs that are going around,” Reumann said. “If you worry about every virus that’s going around you never leave the house.”

Airports haven’t been asked to notify travelers, so the Redmond Airport won’t be doing so, Nicole Jurgensen, a spokeswoman, said.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus in the same class as West Nile and dengue fever, but much less is known about it, said Mark Slifka, a senior scientist at Oregon Health & Science University.

The Zika disease itself is usually mild with fever, a rash and muscle and joint aches, but the link to microcephaly, a birth defect, is alarming enough that the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians is instructing doctors to ask all pregnant women about recent travel and to evaluate anyone who has gone to a region affected by Zika.

Part of the concern about Zika is that it’s spreading so rapidly, similar to chikungunya, another mosquito-borne virus that caused about 1 million cases in South America and the Caribbean last year, Slifka said. “This one’s even more scary because of these birth defects where the infants are born with microcephaly,” he said.

Microcephaly is a smaller-than-normal head size that results in severe disability or death. “That’s what triggered these red flags for international travel by U.S. women,” Slifka said.

So far Brazil is the only country investigating a spike in microcephaly cases, which is another puzzling aspect of the outbreak in that the virus is more widespread, Slifka said. Genetic material of the virus has been found in amniotic fluid of Brazilian women who experienced miscarriages and in a newborn that died soon after birth, he said.

“Because there is no treatment for Zika virus at this time, women should be counseled about all options available to them,” the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians said in a statement issued Thursday. “When possible, delivery at a center with the appropriate levels of neonatal expertise may be warranted.”

Most people infected by Zika never experience symptoms, but they act as hosts helping to spread the disease and amplify an outbreak. Mosquitoes that aren’t infected can become infected after feeding on an infected human. Then the newly infected mosquito spreads the disease by feeding on an uninfected human.

While the CDC’s current concern is about imported cases, scientists are also watching to see whether Zika will become a locally transmitted disease. Chikungunya showed up in Florida mosquitoes, but there was no outbreak, Slifka said. That could have something to do with the fact that most U.S. homes are air-conditioned, so people have much less exposure to mosquitoes, he said. The type of mosquito that spreads Zika doesn’t live in Oregon, Slifka said, so even if a traveler does import the disease, that person couldn’t cause a local outbreak.

The CDC’s travel advisory is not at the very highest level, meaning people have to use their judgment about going to Mexico or the Caribbean. Many Americans traveling for vacation are going to be staying at air-conditioned resorts, which would reduce their exposure to mosquitoes, Slifka said. But there are no guarantees.

“They could go there and hang out for a month and never have a single mosquito bite. Or they could get it as soon as they step off the plane,” he said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com,