El Salvador advises women to delay pregnancies due to virus

A health agent from Sao Paulo’s Public health secretary shows an army soldier Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae that she found during clean up operation against the insect, which is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. A US warning urging pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American countries where the mosquito-borne virus is multiplying threatens to depress tourism to the region, one of its few bright spots at a time of deep economic pain. AP

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Public health officials in El Salvador are advising women to put off pregnancies for the next two years to avoid passing on complications from the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Vice-minister of public health Eduardo Espinoza said Thursday women who are already pregnant should stay covered outdoors to reduce the risk of mosquito bites. There are 96 suspected cases of pregnant women with the virus in El Salvador.

READ: El Salvador issues alert against illness-bearing mosquitoes

Some countries with Zika, such as Brazil, have seen spikes in the number of cases of microcephaly, a rare brain defect in babies. The infants tend to have smaller than normal heads and their brains do not fully develop.

The announcement in El Salvador came at the launch of an anti-mosquito campaign. The same mosquito also transmits the fever-inducing dengue and chikungunya viruses.

READ: Genetically modified mosquitoes combat Zika virus in Brazil