More than 3,100 pregnant women infected with Zika in Colombia

More than 3,100 pregnant women in Colombia are infected with Zika, but the country reports no cases yet of the rare birth defect microcephaly, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday.

Santos confirmed more than 25,000 people were infected with the virus overall in the country, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported. "We are projected to reach 600,000 cases before the epidemic reaches its ceiling," he added.

An analysis of Zika cases found a 66% increase of Guillain-Barre, a rare nerve disorder linked to the virus, but none of microcephaly, a defect in which babies are born with abnormally small skulls, Santos said. Health officials said three people in the country died from Guillain-Barre after contracting Zika.

The Zika virus is primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Scientists in Brazil said Friday that they found the virus can be “active” in the saliva and urine of infected people, raising fears it could also be transmitted through bodily fluids.

Since the latest outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil last August, the Brazilian government has confirmed 404 cases of microcephaly, according to Frontline.

Santos said at a news conference that state and local authorities are working to reduce the mosquito population to cut down on the spread of the virus. He said authorities will be increasing fumigation projects and helping families eliminate stagnant water, a chief breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The Colombian province of Norte de Santander reported nearly 5,000 cases of the virus, more than any other in the country, an epidemiological bulletin from the national health institute shows, Reuters reported.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights this week called on countries facing the spread of the Zika virus to repeal laws limiting access to contraception and abortion. El Tiempo reported representatives of the Catholic Church in Colombia called the U.N. position "appalling" and urged the government to reject it.

Colombian health minister Alejandro Gaviria said Friday that Colombia has considerable experience in family planning. "The majority of the population knows methods of birth control," Gaviria said.

He emphasized there is no definitive link between the Zika virus and microcephaly. "The relationship is not Zika and abortion; it is microcephaly and abortion," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/06/colombia-reports-more-than-3100-pregnancies-zika-virus/79929146/

That Santos character has been hitting the airwaves saying 25,000 cases, and not one case of microcephaly.   Excuse my slang, but he sounds like an idiot.   They have 41 microcephaly cases from Zika and that number will probably explode. He';s either intentionally lying, or he's just not too sharp.  Columbia needs to get on the ball.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia and Venezuela are both reporting a jump in cases of a rare, sometimes paralyzing syndrome that may be linked to the Zika virus.

Colombian Deputy Health Minister Fernando Ruiz said Friday that his country has recorded 41 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome that appear to be linked to Zika infections. It had detected 12 such cases a week ago.

Colombia has said it had about 16,500 suspected cases of Zika, though only a small fraction have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

The mosquito-borne virus is spreading rapidly in the region after being detected last year in Brazil. Investigators are scrambling to determine if the surge is related to seeming increases of the rare birth defect known as microcephaly, which results in babies being born with abnormally small heads, and of Guillain-Barre, which can leave patients temporarily paralyzed.

Venezuelan Health Minister Luisana Melo said Friday that her country has recorded 255 cases of Guillain-Barre, apparently as part of its effort to fight Zika, though she did not specify the link or the time frame.

Former Health Minister Jose Oletta said that figure indicates the number of suspected Zika cases in Venezuela is far more than the government's estimate of roughly 4,500. He has estimated Venezuela could have 400,000 cases.

"Normally, we'd expect 30 or 40 cases of Guillain-Barre a month," said Oletta, who now works with the Network to Defend National Epidemiology. "What this shows is that the minister has the total number of Zika cases wrong."

Zika outbreaks have been reported in several Latin American and Caribbean countries, raising concerns elsewhere about travelers becoming infected.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said Friday that he doesn't think U.S. airports need to screen travelers arriving from nations with Zika cases. He said the disease is spread by mosquitoes and is not transmitted from one person to another.

Speaking in Washington, Fauci said the U.S. government is taking the virus "very seriously" and preparing in case it should spread to the United States. He said Americans should not "get overly panicked" since there have been no transmissions of the disease in the U.S.