Zika Case Detected in Arkansas Traveler

The Arkansas Department of Health says a person who recently traveled out of the United States has tested positive for the Zika virus.

The department says that the person has a mild case of Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes and is suspected of causing a spate of birth defects in Brazil. Spokeswoman Meg Mirivel would not say whether Tuesday if the infected person is a man or woman or give the person's age.

Mirivel says the individual traveled to the Central America-Caribbean region, though she would not specify which country. Some U.S. travelers have been infected abroad with Zika but there are no cases of local infection in the U.S. so far.

Colombian officials are raising the number of suspected cases of the Zika virus in their country. They say 16,490 people now apparently have had the disease that's been linked to birth defects in Brazil. Of those 1,090 are pregnant women.

The new figures come as health minister begins a nationwide effort to rally local officials to battle the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the virus.

Minister Alejandro Gaviria said Tuesday he hopes Colombia will become "an example for Latin America" in the battle against Zika.

President Juan Manuel Santo has said Colombian officials expect to see 600,000 cases of Zika this year, and are preparing for the possibility of infants born with microcephaly, a birth defect that has skyrocketed in Brazil along with cases of Zika.

So far, there's only one case of microcephaly in Colombia suspected of being linked to Zika.

U.S. officials say pregnant women should consider postponing trips to 22 destinations with Zika infections, including Puerto Rico. 

Zika is spread by mosquitoes, and in most people causes no more than mild illness. But there's been mounting evidence linking Zika infection in pregnant women to a birth defect in which a newborn's head is unusually small and the brain may not develop properly.  (AP)