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Zika pushes 38 percent of U.S. businesses surveyed to let workers defer trips

Today’s post was shared by Workers Comp Brief and comes from mobile.reuters.com

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen inside the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) insect pest control laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria, February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen inside the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) insect pest control laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria, February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
A scientist shows a picture of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes inside the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) insect pest control laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria, February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
A scientist shows a picture of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes inside the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) insect pest control laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria, February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
A biologist displays Aedes mosquito cells inoculated with virus Zika in the laboratory of Biology from University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in Campinas, Brazil, February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
A biologist displays Aedes mosquito cells inoculated with virus Zika in the laboratory of Biology from University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in Campinas, Brazil, February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

(Reuters) – Some 38 percent of U.S. multinationals, universities and non-profits surveyed by an arm of the State Department are allowing female employees to defer travel or leave countries where the Zika virus has been reported.

A fifth of the 321 respondents said they were giving male employees similar options, a sign of how employers’ travel policies are diverging as they react to the mosquito-borne virus and uncertainty about the way it is transmitted.

Scientists are investigating a potential link between Zika infections of pregnant women and more than 4,000 suspected cases in Brazil of microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems.

The State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), which has a membership of more than 3,500 U.S. companies and institutions that do business abroad, surveyed its members and reported the…

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