More than 20,000 people, including at least 2,116 pregnant women, have been infected with the Zika virus in the South American country of Colombia. Colombia’s National Health Institute reported on Saturday that it has recorded 20,297 cases of the infection, which makes it the second most affected country in the region after Brazil.
The World Health Organisation warned this week that the virus is“spreading explosively” in the Americas, with three million to four million cases expected this year. Although the mosquito-borne virus’s symptoms are relatively mild, it is believed to be linked to a surge in cases of microcephaly, a devastating condition in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head and brain.
Microcephaly is an untreatable disease that can cause permanent damage to the child’s motor and cognitive development. Brazil has reported as many as 1.5 million cases of Zika infection. Since the outbreak was detected there last year, 3,718 cases of microcephaly have been reported, compared to an average 163 cases a year before that.
