The Ministry of Public Health has confirmed two cases of the Zika virus in Costa Rica, and those two infections were enough for one traveler in from Minnesota to cancel an upcoming vacation in our country. According to a news report filed by Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, travel agents in that North American metropolis are warning their clients about the dangerous virus, which is spreading throughout Latin America.

Ms. Olson reported other cancellations, and at least one change of destination from Dominican Republic to the Bahamas even as Jamaica confirmed its first Zika infection on Sunday.

Travel warnings related to the Zika virus are multiplying across the Americas, and pregnant women are being strongly encouraged to avoid traveling in the region. In Colombia, the number of pregnant women infected has risen to 1,911, all of whom now risk having microcephalic babies. A total of 20,297 cases of the disease have been registered in that South American country.

The Zika virus, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same that carries dengue fever and the Chikungunya virus, can cause fever, bloodshot eyes without secretion or itching, skin rash with white and red spots, and with less frequency, muscle and joint pain.

The Pan American Health Organization criticized several regional governments’ call for women to delay getting pregnant due to the spread of the Zika virus, instead calling for expanded access to contraception in Latin America.

“You can’t recommend that women not get pregnant. The countries need to inform people of the risks, but the final decision is the woman’s alone. It’s her right,” Suzanne Serruya, director of PAHO’s Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women and Reproductive Health, said in an interview with EFE.

Ecuador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Honduras, Panama and El Salvador, as well as the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have urged women not to get pregnant until more is known about the virus.

“We don’t know how much longer it will last. What happens if in two years it’s worse? That’s not the solution. We’ve got to work to reduce the vector (the Aedes aegypti mosquito) and to ensure women have greater access to contraception,” the expert said.

In Costa Rica, public health officials are working on a vector control effort that will release Saccharopolyspora spinosa bacteria in water sources that could be breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The specific bacterium is contained within a tablet that dissolves in water and attacks the nervous system of larvae, killing them in 48 hours.

This report includes information provided by Agencia EFE, the international news wire service partner of The Costa Rica Star.