Zika virus has been spread by mosquitoes in several countries throughout the Americas, and authorities have recommended that women who are pregnant consider postponing travel to those places where transmission of the virus is ongoing.
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The Zika virus affects primarily monkeys and humans and is transmitted by daytime-active mosquitoes.
Most people who get the virus display no symptoms, and those who do generally avoid serious illness. The main concern is that the virus has been linked to birth defects in babies born to infected women.
CDC chief Tom Frieden cautioned that much more research on a large number of people is needed to fully understand the risk posed by Zika virus infection in pregnancy.
Still, the proportion of USA pregnancies that appear to have been harmed due to the mosquito-borne infection “is unexpected, and greater than we would have expected”, Dr. Denise Jamieson, co-lead of the Pregnancy and Birth Defects Team with the CDC Zika Virus Response Team, said during the news conference.
Because there are only a few ways Zika can be transferred, the woman is not facing any kind of quarantine restrictions.
A man who traveled to a Zika-affected country transmitted the virus to a female partner who had not traveled.
Two women have gone on to have apparently healthy newborns.
The only two previously known cases of Zika in San Diego came in 2014 and 2015 and involved people who had traveled to areas afflicted by outbreaks.
All nine women reported at least one of the four most commonly observed symptoms of Zika infection: fever, rash, an eye infection called conjunctivitis, or joint pain.
The CDC also reported 40 locally acquired cases of the virus in USA territories.
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“If you must go to the Olympics, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider first”, the CDC said in a travel advice for the Olympics. Two women had abortions and two are continuing without reported complications. The World Health Organization has said that could take six months, through studies such as following pregnant women in Colombia. Among the women who had miscarriages, abortions, and the birth of child with microcephaly all experienced their symptoms during the first trimester.
