A leading health expert has warned tourists to "think twice" about visiting parts of the US, including Walt Disney World in Florida, because of the future threat of the Zika virus in the country.
Pregnant women and couples looking to conceive should be particularly wary of going on holiday to southern states such as Florida, Texas and Louisiana, according to Jimmy Whitworth, Professor of International Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
There are fears the Olympic Games in Brazil this summer could facilitate the spread of Zika, which has been connected to birth defects in babies if their mothers are infected during pregnancy.
In a letter to the World Health Organisation, 150 of the world’s top doctors, researchers and medical ethicists demanded the event be moved or at least postponed. But the WHO rejected these calls, claiming the Games would “not significantly alter” the spread of the virus.
Mr Whitworth suggests the situation could worsen with the onset of summer weather, allowing mosquitoes to flourish.
He told The Mail on Sunday: “At the moment, if you said to me, ‘I’m going to Disney World tomorrow,’ I’d say, ‘Go for it! That’s fine’.
“Because we don’t think there’s any Zika in mosquitoes in the US right now. But will there be, in two or three months’ time? Well, there might be, as the situation might change.”
Mr Whitworth said pregnant women and those trying for a baby “need to consider their plans and, if there is an alternative to going to those parts of the US, strongly consider it.”
He added: “They should think twice and seek up-to-date expert advice.”
The US Senate this month voted to set aside $1.1 billion in emergency funding to fight the ongoing threat of the Zika virus. The US has only seen 591 travel-related cases of Zika, all described as “travel-associated cases”, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Public Health England said it was “monitoring the international situation closely”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) deems Zika a “public health emergency of international concern”.
