Zika Virus Update: CDC Issues Travel Notice For Cuba Before Obama's Trip

One day before President Barack Obama is slated to visit, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel notice for Cuba for Zika virus, the Associated Press reported. The notice warns travelers that they are at risk of contracting the mosquito-borne virus.

Cuba’s first case of local transmission of Zika virus was confirmed Tuesday. A Havana woman who had not traveled outside of Cuba was diagnosed after suffering symptoms of Zika. Before the confirmed case, Cuba had reportedly had more than 9,000 soldiers, police and university students working to eliminate mosquitoes through fumigation and reducing standing water. While the virus is spread through bites from a specific mosquito, there have been increasing reports of sexually transmitted cases.

The Obama administration said that the virus, which has been deemed as a public health emergency by the World Health Organization, has not been a factor in the president’s travel decisions and isn’t expected to be in the future. Obama’s three-day trip to Cuba marks the first time in 90 years that a sitting U.S. president has visited the country.

Zika has run rampant in Brazil and is currently being investigated in connection with the country’s uptick in a birth defect known as microcephaly, a neurological disorder resulting in babies born with an abnormally small head. The outbreak has prompted the CDC to issue travel warnings for countries affected by Zika, largely in the Americas, as information continues to emerge about the dangers of the mosquito-borne virus.

Common symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and bloodshot eyes, and the illness is typically mild, with symptoms lasting from several days to a week, according to the CDC.