If you’re pregnant, you may want to re-consider any travel plans down south. Just thank your stars that we’re having a mild winter and forgo the Caribbean vacation for another year. Why? The Zika virus is spreading like wild fire through Latin and some parts of South America and the Caribbean. So much so, that the World Health Organization has declared the explosive spread of the Zika virus a national emergency.

What is the Zika Virus

Zika is a tropical disease that is spread via mosquitos, and is in the same family as West Nile and dengue fever. It is named after the Zika forest in Uganda, where it was first identified in the 1940s.

While Zika may have been around for close to a hundred years, it’s only recently that it’s become widespread in humans. In fact, only a handful of Zika cases were documented prior to 2013, when multiple outbreaks were discovered in the Pacific Islands and South East Asia. Zika has since spread, most notably to Brazil, where it’s infected as many as 1.5 million people.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Why Pregnant Women Need to Be Worried >