The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in particular cautioned pregnant women not to travel to those areas as Zika has been linked to a serious birth defects.
Advertisement
As of Saturday, 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Martin, Suriname, Venezuela and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
But in pregnant women, the virus can spread to the fetus and cause brain shrinkage – a rare condition called microcephaly that severely limits a child’s intellectual and physical development – or death.
Canadian health officials have also issued a public health notice.
The Hawaii State Department of Health said in a written statement that the mother was believed to have had a Zika infection while living in Brazil in May 2015 and that the baby was likely infected in the womb.
The Hawaii State Department of Health emphasized that neither the mother nor baby were infectious and that there have been no recorded cases of Zika virus acquired in Hawaii, although six people have been identified there who were infected outside the United States.
There have been no confirmed cases of Zika virus transmission within Hawaii, Park said. However, the Hawaii health department issued a medical advisory to doctors throughout the state to make them aware of the possibility that women they treat who have lived in and/or traveled to other countries and territories might be also infected with the Zika virus.
The CDC action was prompted by tests that found Zika in fetal and newborn tissue of Brazilian babies affected with microcephaly. The Aedes species of mosquitoes are common throughout southern states in the USA like Florida and Texas. The list of countries with transmission has been steadily growing; on Saturday, Barbados reported its first cases.
Though there was a baby born in Hawaii with brain damage due to the Zika virus, to date, it is the only known case of anyone in the US having the virus. It’s a cousin of dengue virus but only causes symptoms in about one in four or one in five people. While Brazil had an average of 156 babies born each year between 2010 and 2014 with microcephaly, 2015 saw more than 3,000 instances. Symptoms of the illness include mild fever, joint pain and skin rash.
Right now there’s no vaccine for the Zika virus.
Advertisement
Zika can be transmitted by a mosquito that has bitten an infected person.
