The CDC is warning pregnant women not to travel to the Caribbean or Latin America where there are outbreaks of the Zika virus. The illness can cause serious birth defects.
GREEN BAY -- New cases are now being reported in four states including two in Illinois. The virus is only transported by infected mosquitoes which have not been in the US.
The US government is in the process of developing a travel warning to places like brazil and the Caribbean.
Angelo Kolokithas, a microbiology instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, studies mosquitoes and their viruses.
“A lot of birth defects that's being caused by this virus or moms being bitten by the mosquito” he says.
The virus creates unusually small heads and damaged brains in developing fetuses.
It's that first trimester for women that babies are most vulnerable and women often don't know they're pregnant.
But as for if the virus will travel here
“ It's not likely to occur viruses evolve to be carried by infectors in this case the mosquito.” Says Kolokithas.
But it's not for sure, until mosquito season hits the states.
