The spread of highly infectious Zika virus in Brazil has shaken the Brazilian government. Health officials are now worried that the cases of newborns with abnormal brain development will rise due to the spread of virus.

Some reports have also shown that cases of another mosquito-transmitted illness i.e. dengue fever have also picked up the pace and has reached a historical high in the largest country of the South America.

Zika virus can lead to a condition called as microcephaly, in which infants are born with undersized brains and skulls. Data released by the Brazil’s Health Ministry showed that in this week alone, there were fresh 199 cases of people being infected with the Zika virus. There were 193 suspected cases in the week ended on December 26.

The latest figures bring the total number of suspected Zika-related microcephaly cases to 3,174. So far, there have been 38 infant deaths believed to have been caused by Zika-related microcephaly.

Brazilian authorities estimated that between 500,000 and 1.5 million people may have been infected with the Zika virus in the past year. Symptoms of the Zika virus infection include rashes and joint ache, and the virus may cause neurological damage in rare cases, though it is seldom fatal.

Presently, there is no vaccine for the disease, which is carried by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito species that also transmit dengue and another similar disease, chikungunya.

Health authorities said the virus can easily get transmitted to fetuses by pregnant mothers who have been bitten by infected mosquitoes. No proven link of the existence of this link has been found, but Brazilian and international health officials said that there is substantial evidence of a causal connection between them.