More than one in five people living in Puerto Rico will become infected with Zika virus, experts today warned.
As the virus sweeps through the Americas, Puerto Rico has become America's front line in the battle against the disease.
Home to 3.5 million US citizens, the territory has a tropical landscape that provides an ideal breeding ground for the Aedes mosquito that spreads Zika.
Officials have barred local blood donations, ramped up efforts to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito and are trying to monitor every pregnant woman on the island due to fears the virus increases the risk of birth defects.
The voluntary registry by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (#( CDC )#) extends to all Zika-infected women and their babies throughout the United States.]The Puerto Rican governor, meanwhile, has declared a public health emergency, and the CDC, which earlier urged pregnant women to reconsider visits to Puerto Rico, has asked Congress for $250 million in emergency aid to battle Zika here.
The CDC has also sent nearly 40 health workers to help, and is using the island as a test bed for Zika studies.
Steve Waterman, head of the CDC's dengue branch in Puerto Rico, said: 'For the US, it really is the territory that is going to have the most infections.
