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Brazilian President Calls for Mosquito Extermination Amid Zika Virus Spread

© REUTERS / Ueslei MarcelinoBrazil's President Dilma Rousseff
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff - Sputnik International
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The fight against Zika virus, which causes birth defects in the brain, should focus on the extermination of mosquitos that spread it, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said.

Health Ministry employee fumigates a home against the Aedes aegypti mosquito to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in Soyapango, six km east of San Salvador, on January 21, 2016 - Sputnik International
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MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – The current Zika virus outbreak originated in Brazil last year and later spread across Latin America, having been registered in over 20 different countries since March 2015.

"While we don't have a vaccine against the virus Zika, the war should focus on the extermination of mosquito breeding sites," Rousseff wrote on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Nicaragua became the 22nd country affected by the Zika outbreak. The country’s government announced that two people had been infected with the virus in the country’s capital, Managua.

The Zika virus affects primarily monkeys and humans and is transmitted by daytime-active mosquitos. It does not cause serious complications in adults, however, it can lead to babies being born with microcephaly, which is a case of an underdeveloped brain.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned pregnant women to avoid traveling to at least 24 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific amid the Zika virus outbreak.

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