Zika virus: El Salvador tells women to avoid pregnancies until 2018 amid fears over birth defects

Fears over the Zika virus have intensified after El Salvador warned women not to get pregnant for the next two years, as the mosquito-borne virus could cause birth defects among newborns.

The virus is thought to cause severe brain damage in new-born babies and may also be behind rising instances of a separate potentially fatal illness that can leave patients paralysed, doctors say.

It is already suspected of being responsible for a dramatic increase in cases of microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads, in Latin America.

Note

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the  Flaviviridae Virus Family and the Flavivirus Genus, transmitted by Aedes Mosquitoes

In humans, it causes a mild illness known as Zika Fever, Zika, or Zika disease

The illness is like a mild form of dengue fever is treated by rest,and cannot be prevented by drugs or vaccines

The virus, called Zika, made its way to Brazil recently but is spreading rapidly around Latin America and the Caribbean
Nearly 4,000 cases of brain damage, in which babies were born with unusually small heads, have been registered in Brazil in the past year, and this month
American officials advised pregnant women todelay travelling to any of nearly 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere, as well as Puerto Rico, where mosquitoes are spreading the virus.