S. America in Zika Crisis Talks as Transmission Feared

South American health ministers launched emergency talks Wednesday on the fast-spreading Zika outbreak after a U.S. case of sexual transmission of the virus, blamed for brain damage in babies.

Ministers from 13 countries including the two reportedly worst affected, Brazil and Colombia, gathered in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo to coordinate their fight against the mosquito-borne illness.

Arriving at the meeting, Brazil's Health Minister Marcelo Castro told reporters his country had deployed 522,000 personnel to prevent infections by cleaning up and advising the population.

Castro called it "the biggest effort in Brazil's history."

Brazil has reported 1.5 million cases of infection by Zika, more than any other country.

The fever starts with a mosquito bite and normally involves little more than a fever and rash.

But scientists suspect that when it strikes a pregnant woman it can cause her fetus to develop microcephaly -- a condition which causes the baby to be born with an abnormally small head.

Since October, Brazil has reported 3,670 suspected cases of microcephaly, of which 404 have been confirmed -- up from 147 in 2014.

Alarm rose on Tuesday when authorities in Texas said they had confirmation of the virus being transmitted by sexual contact and not just tropical mosquitoes.

A patient there was infected following sexual contact with someone who had returned to the United States after catching it in Venezuela.

Authorities are concerned over the threat to the Olympic Games to be held in Brazil in August.

The World Health Organization has declared the spike in serious birth defects in South America an international emergency and launched a global Zika response unit.

Wednesday's meeting in Uruguay involved delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

It was also attended by a delegation from the Panamerican Health Organization.