mosquitoes

It fits easily onto a single fingernail, and yet has tormented armies and obliterated the population of entire cities.

Top research institutions, funders and publishers said Wednesday they would make all scientific findings on the Zika virus assailing Latin America available speedily and free.

Officials from several government agencies on Monday said the current situation of Zika virus in Costa Rica does not pose a risk for tourists and that there is not any travel or trade restriction related to the mosquito-borne disease.

The alarming spread of the Zika virus is looking more like a public health catastrophe. But it's also something else: The latest example of how human alterations to their environments can empower disease-carrying organisms and the viruses they bring with them.

Costa Rica and Nicaragua were added this week to the list of nearly 30 countries and territories U.S. authorities are warning pregnant women to avoid because of the presence of Zika virus.

It now appears that a number of those cases of the microcephaly in Brazil may not in fact be microcephaly, or not linked to the Zika virus as authorities originally believed.

Following the confirmation of the first case of a Tico infected with the rapidly spreading Zika virus, Costa Rica Health Ministry officials on Wednesday announced new steps to boost surveillance at all entry points into the country.

Airlines offered refunds to pregnant mothers afraid to travel to countries where Zika is present, while Costa Rica announced measures designed to keep the virus from getting a foothold in the country.

The first Zika patient in Costa Rica apparently contracted the virus while visiting Colombia. Health Ministry officials fumigated a 100-meter square area around the man's bedroom and interviewed neighbors, none of whom had Zika symptoms.

Some Latin American countries are warning women to avoid getting pregnant, after thousands of cases of birth defects linked to the disease in recent months.