More than 3,100 pregnant women infected with Zika in Colombia

More than 3,100 pregnant women in Colombia are infected with Zika, but the country reports no cases yet of the rare birth defect microcephaly, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday.

Santos confirmed more than 25,000 people were infected with the virus overall in the country, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported. "We are projected to reach 600,000 cases before the epidemic reaches its ceiling," he added.

An analysis of Zika cases found a 66% increase of Guillain-Barre, a rare nerve disorder linked to the virus, but none of microcephaly, a defect in which babies are born with abnormally small skulls, Santos said. Health officials said three people in the country died from Guillain-Barre after contracting Zika.

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Earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency after Brazilian authorities linked Zika to microcephaly. The virus is currently spreading in at least 29 countries, mainly in Latin American and the Caribbean.

The Zika virus is primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Scientists in Brazil said Friday that they found the virus can be “active” in the saliva and urine of infected people, raising fears it could also be transmitted through bodily fluids.

Since the latest outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil last August, the Brazilian government has confirmed 404 cases of microcephaly, according to Frontline.

Santos said at a news conference that state and local authorities are working to reduce the mosquito population to cut down on the spread of the virus. He said authorities will be increasing fumigation projects and helping families eliminate stagnant water, a chief breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The Colombian province of Norte de Santander reported nearly 5,000 cases of the virus, more than any other in the country, an epidemiological bulletin from the national health institute shows, Reuters reported.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights this week called on countries facing the spread of the Zika virus to repeal laws limiting access to contraception and abortion. El Tiempo reported representatives of the Catholic Church in Colombia called the U.N. position "appalling" and urged the government to reject it.

Colombian health minister Alejandro Gaviria said Friday that Colombia has considerable experience in family planning. "The majority of the population knows methods of birth control," Gaviria said.

He emphasized there is no definitive link between the Zika virus and microcephaly. "The relationship is not Zika and abortion; it is microcephaly and abortion," he said.