There is currently “no justification” for asking Mexican women to postpone getting pregnant because of an outbreak of the mosquito-born virus Zika, a senior Mexican Health Ministry official said during an interview with Reuters on Tuesday (January 26).
Zika, which has spread across the Americas, has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil, leading health authorities in Colombia and El Salvador to advise women against getting pregnant for anywhere up to two years.
There are 18 cases of Zika in Mexico, with 13 in the southern state of Chiapas, four in the northern state of Nuevo Leon and one in the western state of Jalisco, confirmed Pablo Kuri, deputy minister for prevention and health promotion.
“In Mexico 18 cases have been confirmed across the country so this is just starting. We have a season where there isn’t a lot of mosquitoes because it is cold and the mosquito needs a certain temperature and water to reproduce. Certainly in the following months, weeks there will be more cases. At the moment we’re at a preventative phase,” he said.
Kuri added all 18 people contracted the virus in Mexico, rather than catching it abroad and travelling to Mexico.
But he said the many migrants travelling north to the United States from Central America, and particularly El Salvador, which has been badly hit by the outbreak, could add to the Zika tally in Mexico.
El Salvador has called on couples to avoid getting pregnant amidst the outbreak. However, Kuri said there was no need for such a measure in Mexico.
“In Mexico at the moment there is no justification in telling a woman not to get pregnant when there are no cases other than in three areas that are restricted or that have a large concentration. It also has to do with the future and the experience in Central and South America regarding whether these recommendations have an effect. You can tell people not to get pregnant, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. What we need to avoid more than pregnancy is that those who are pregnant are not bitten by mosquitoes,” he said.
Given the low number of cases, he said that “the risk of coming to Mexico is extremely low,” as many parts of the country, including Mexico City, had such high elevations that the low-lying Zika mosquito could not strike there.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation predicted the virus would spread to all countries across the Americas except for Canada and Chile.
There is currently no vaccine for Zika. The Sao Paulo-based Butantan Institute is leading research on Zika and says it plans to develop a vaccine “in record time,” although its director warned that was still likely to take three to five years. (Reuters)