Spreading Zika virus a new economic strain for Latin America

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia (AP) — A U.S. warning that pregnant women should avoid Latin American countries where a mosquito-borne virus is multiplying couldn't have come at a worse time for a region that's counting on tourism to give it a boost at a time of economic crises.

The alert issued Friday by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covers 14 countries and territories in the Americas where the Zika virus has been detected.

"The Zika virus being in the news could potentially keep away people — even those who aren't pregnant or have no risk of becoming pregnant," said Otto Nogami, an economist at the Insper business school in Sao Paulo.

Plunging international prices have hurt many of their mining and oil companies that had been darling of investors the past decade, but cheaper currencies make their resorts a better bargain for visitors.

In the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, home to Latin America's largest Carnival outside Brazil, health authorities have been educating residents how to identify symptoms and urging women to put off pregnancies for at least six months until the worst of the epidemic passes.