Officials have urged women to delay pregnancy for six to eight months after contracting the virus.
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The virus causes fever, rash and achy joints.
Two weeks ago, the CDC recommended that pregnant women postpone trips to countries with Zika outbreaks, which are occurring in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Also, Brazilian health officials said yesterday they had confirmed two cases of transmission through blood transfusions.
Since the latest outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil last August, the Brazilian government has confirmed 404 cases of microcephaly out of 1,313 potential cases were investigated, according to Frontline.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed that the Zika (ZEE’-kuh) virus is still mainly spread by mosquito bites.
A Brazilian research team formed by the public health research institution Ossa Crud Foundation said it had discovered traces of the virus in the saliva and urine of infected patients who had already displayed symptoms of the disease.
The Colombian government has said pregnant women with Zika are eligible to access much-restricted abortion services. Women with ultrasound tests showing microcephaly also should be tested.
But the insects are bringing more than just irritation to the southern United States, they’re spreading the Zika Virus.
An infectious disease researcher at Vanderbilt University, William Schaffner said, “The important thing is now to determine whether the virus in saliva and urine can transmit the virus to others”.
“We don’t know a lot about Zika”, Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a conference call on Friday.
It is feared the virus is being spread by mosquitoes.
The agency noted that Zika infection is usually mild, and about 80 percent of people who are infected with the virus have no symptoms at all.
Also on Friday, Puerto Rico’s governor declared a health emergency as more Zika-related cases emerge across the USA territory.
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“This virus, which only recently arrived in Brazil and Latin America, no longer is a distant nightmare but a real threat to all Brazilians’ homes”, Rousseff said in a nationally televised message.
