CDC expands tropical virus alert; 22 destinations on list

Health authorities have added eight tropical destinations to a travel alert about an illness linked with a severe birth defect and spread by mosquitoes.

Friday's update by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brings the total to 22 destinations, most in Latin America and the Caribbean, where there have been outbreaks of the Zika (ZEE'-ka) virus.

Added were Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Guyana; Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa; and Samoa in the South Pacific.

The CDC says pregnant women should consider postponing trips to these destinations because the virus has been linked with a birth defect. Affected newborns have unusually small heads and abnormal brain development.

Zika illness can cause fever, rash and joint pain but most people infected don't show symptoms.