On Saturday U.S. health officials confirmed that a baby born with brain damage at a hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, was infected by the virus in what is the first case of the disease in a birth on U.S. soil.
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Health officials say there is no risk of transmission in Hawaii, where there has never been a case of a person acquiring Zika in the state.
Most have been concentrated in Brazil’s poor northeast, though cases in Rio de Janeiro and other big cities have also been on the rise, prompting people to stock up on mosquito repellent.
Zika causes a dengue-like illness, with symptoms that include fever, headache, skin rash, red eyes, and muscle ache, and it is usually mild and does not require hospitalization.
In Brazil, most of the mothers who had babies with the condition – called microcephaly – were apparently infected during the first trimester, but there is some evidence the birth defect can occur later in the pregnancy, said the CDC’s Dr. Cynthia Moore. It’s transmitted when a mosquito bites an infected person, and then spreads the obtained virus by biting others.
The U.S. has warned pregnant women from travelling to a number of countries across Latin America and the Caribbean after new cases of the Zika virus were found. And it was swiftly suspected of being involved with an explosion of microcephaly cases. The birth defect is generally rare and linked to genetic factors, in utero exposure to toxic chemicals, or certain infections, including rubella and chicken pox.
But since the virus arrived in Brazil, there have been a slew of microcephaly cases leading to concerns of a potential link between the two. For comparison, there were only 147 cases altogether in 2014.
According to Brazilian health authorities, more than 3,500 microcephaly cases were reported in Brazil between October 2015 and January 2016.
“Out of an abundance of caution, pregnant women (are) advised to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing”, the CDC said.
No vaccine or medications are available to prevent or treat Zika infections.
Infectious disease control will need to step up its game if that reality comes to pass, said Fauci.
Also on Friday, Haiti’s Public Health Minister Florence Duperval Guillaume, confirmed five cases of the Zika virus on the island in a press conference.
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The CDC does not expect the virus to spread in the United States. However, recent chikungunya and dengue outbreaks in the United States suggest that Zika outbreaks in the USA mainland may be relatively small and focal.
