New Country Warns Women Not to Get Pregnant

Citing Zika, El Salvador wants women to hold off on pregnancies until 2018
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 24, 2016 12:30 PM CST
New Country Warns Women Not to Get Pregnant
A graduate student works on analyzing samples to identify the Zika virus in a lab in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.   (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Zika virus has now spread to some 20 Latin American nations, reports NBC News, and at least one of them—El Salvador—is issuing a pretty stern warning to its female population: To avoid children born with birth defects including microcephaly, the country wants women to avoid getting pregnant until 2018, reports Reuters. "We'd like to suggest to all the women of fertile age that they take steps to plan their pregnancies, and avoid getting pregnant between this year and next," a deputy health minister says. El Salvador has seen nearly 5,400 cases of Zika last year and this year. Brazil has also made a similar suggestion to women, as has Colombia, though the latter is advising holding off on conceiving for only six to eight months. (More Zika virus stories.)

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