After months of cautious speculation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially confirmed the link between the mosquito-borne Zika virus and microcephaly, a rare birth defect. The news comes after an increasing number of babies across South America were born with the defects, which lead to abnormally small heads and brain abnormalities.
This is the first time that a virus spread by mosquitoes has officially been linked to birth defects, and the CDC maintained that pregnant women should avoid traveling to Latin America and the Caribbean, regions where the virus is spreading rapidly.
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