RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The latest on the fight against the Zika virus that health officials suspect is linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil. (All times local):
2:55 p.m.
U.S. health officials are putting out advice to doctors on testing newborns for Zika virus, a tropical infection linked to a wave of birth defects in Brazil.
The guidance is for doctors caring for infants born to mothers who traveled to Zika outbreak areas in Latin America or the Caribbean during their pregnancy. The advice covers which situations call for Zika testing and when to do fetal ultrasounds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the guidelines Tuesday.
Zika is spread by mosquitoes, and in most people causes no more than mild illness. But there’s been mounting evidence linking Zika infection in pregnant women to a birth defect in which a newborn’s head is unusually small and the brain may not develop properly.
2:40 p.m.
Argentina authorities say they are investigating a possible case of infection by the mosquito-borne Zika virus. It would be a first for the nation that shares a border with Brazil.
Santa Fe Health Department official Andrea Uboldi tells La Red radio that the man is in the city of Rosario and had recently visited Brazil, where hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika are suspected and authorities are investigating a possible link to birth defects.
Meanwhile, officials in the Argentine province of Corrientes have declared an epidemiological alert due to an outbreak of dengue in the area. Dengue and Zika are both transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.