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Health officials have warned that about 500 million people in the Americas and the Caribbean are at risk of getting the Zika virus. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to serious birth defects such as microcephaly. Microcephaly causes brain damage and an abnormally small head in babies born to mothers infected during pregnancy.

"It's important to note that all countries which have reported, detected Dengue and Chikungunya virus outbreaks during the last years, that's 15 years, are considered at risk for having outbreaks of Zika," said Sylvain Aldighieri, Zika incident manager for Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), reported Politico.

"We are expecting outbreaks of Zika from Middle America to Latin America to the north of Argentina and in the Caribbean. So it's a very large portion of territory of the region."

"We think that about 500 million people in the Americas are at risk to be infected by the Zika virus," Aldighieri added, reported Science Magazine.

Until now, 37 countries and territories in the Americas have reported Zika virus transmission, of which five countries including Brazil have reported microcephaly.

Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said that his agency is working to begin a clinical trial for a Zika vaccine in September this year and that they would be able to determine if the vaccine is ready to test on groups of people only in 2017.

"We will probably know if it's safe by the beginning of 2017," said Fauci. "And if it is, we'll engage in a very large efficacy study likely in South America or in the Caribbean and that should take anywhere from one to three years to prove that it works or does not work."

In addition, a trial, which is being monitored by the FDA, is also underway that involves the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to help control Aedes aegypti reproduction, reported ABC News.

Zika is transmitted primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, which also spreads chikungunya and dengue. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes.

There's no vaccine or specific treatment for the disease yet. The only protection against zika virus is not to get bitten or not to get pregnant.