As predicted, Zika is again on the move. After another confirmed case of locally transmitted Zika virus in Florida — this one in the Tampa Bay area — health officials are scrambling to eradicate the mosquito population in that location and educate people about reducing their risks of transmission.

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(Credit: Radiological Society of North America)

The Florida Department of Health announced it is planning door-to-door testing and outreach in the Pinellas County neighborhood where the infection was detected. Officials, however, do not plan to reveal the location unless more cases are discovered.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also added the Bahamas to its list of travel notices tied to Zika virus transmission. Local transmission of the virus has been reported on the island of New Providence, home to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women don’t travel to any area with the Zika virus, and if they must, to protect themselves from mosquito bites as best they can. A new report this week hammers home the reasons why.

The journal Radiology published a special report detailing the spectrum of imaging findings in babies and fetuses infected with the Zika virus.

“Imaging is essential for identifying the presence and the severity of the structural changes induced by the infection, especially in the central nervous system,” said the report’s lead author, Fernanda Tovar Moll, M.D., Ph.D. She is vice president of the D’Or Institute for Research and Education and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. “Microcephaly is just one of several radiological features,” she said in a statement.

In microcephaly, the baby’s head is exceptionally small due to an underdeveloped brain — but Zika has also been linked to eye defects, hearing impairment, and stunted growth.

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Additional brain abnormalities (see the images shown within this article) have been found in fetuses exposed to the virus, including gray and white matter volume loss, brainstem abnormalities, calcifications, and a condition called ventriculomegaly, in which the ventricles, or fluid-filled spaces in the brain, are enlarged.

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And while the first trimester of pregnancy is the time researchers believe infection is riskiest, it’s not the only time researchers now understand damage can be done.

The team worked with the Instituto de Pesquisa in Campina Grande state Paraiba (IPESQ) in northeastern Brazil, where Zika infection has been severe, reviewing the imaging exams of 438 patients referred to IPESQ between June 2015 and May 2016. Imaging exams included fetal MRI, postnatal brain CT, postnatal brain MRI, and some prenatal ultrasounds.

Ninety-four percent of the confirmed Zika group and 79 percent of the presumed Zika group had abnormalities of the corpus callosum, a large nerve fiber bundle that allows communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. All but one had cortical migrational abnormalities, meaning the neurons did not travel to their proper destination in the brain.

Also present in almost all cases were intracranial calcifications, reduced tissue volume in the brain, and varying abnormalities in cortical development.

“It is a near-certitude this disease will spread to every state and territory in the U.S.,” said a former FDA official.

“The severity of the cortical malformation and associated tissue changes, and the localization of the calcifications at the grey-white matter junction, were the most surprising findings,” Dr. Tovar Moll said.

While the team continues to investigate the damage done to infants affected by Zika, one former Food and Drug Administration senior medical officer says the focus of research right now shouldn’t be on the course of the disease. “MRI scans aren’t needed,” said Dr. David Gortler, a pharmacology expert and FDA policy expert at FormerFDA.com.

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(Credit: Radiological Society of North America)

“It’s to the point that even the most casual observer can see that the skull and the lobes of the brain are non-symmetrical. Cognitive and mental deficiencies will be extreme and represent the severest of the severe.”

Where the focus needs to be instead, Gortler said, is on the virus carrier itself.

“The specific breed and carrier mosquitoes responsible must be eradicated immediately through whatever safe and practical means available. If not, we risk losing multiple generations of children and causing immense suffering, as well as a poor quality of life to the generation that survives and is born with Zika,” Gortler told LifeZette.

Related: Looming Zika Infant Epidemic

And while it’s important to keep the public updated on where local transmission of Zika is confirmed to be happening, Gortler maintains it won’t be long before we see it widespread. His advice is to take precautions now to protect yourself — and not just expectant mothers, but everyone.

“Based on previous known potentials of mosquito-born diseases, it is a near-certitude that this disease will spread to every state and territory in the United States,” said Gortler.