Only infection in the first trimester of pregnancy seemed linked to microcephaly with statistical certainty, the researchers reported, estimated to happen in about 1% of those cases.
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Men who have traveled to an area of active Zika virus transmission should use condoms every time during sex or abstain from sexual activity if their partner is pregnant. Zika virus can also harm an unborn baby.
The virus can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus, and has been linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, a rare neurological condition that results in a significantly smaller head size.
Other suspected cases may include patients who have experienced symptoms within two weeks after traveling from countries with confirmed reported cases of Zika virus, and patients who have a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome.
The researchers were then able to estimate the risk of microcephaly as 95 in 10,000, or around 1 per cent, of pregnant women infected with Zika in the first trimester.
One of the big questions in the outbreak is how often a Zika virus infection in pregnancy triggers these birth defects.
Another unknown is whether patterns in French Polynesia are transferrable to Latin American, and eventually other parts of the world if Zika continues to expand its footprint. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found cases where the virus has been sexually transmitted or spread via blood transfusion, the release said. “She has no background of having been outside the country”, said a presenter who read a report from the Cuba’s health ministry on state television.
Cuba reported its first case of Zika on March 2, making it one of the last countries in the Americas to encounter the virus.
Most neighboring countries, including Jamaica, have confirmed local cases of Zika. She had recently traveled to an area where the virus is prevalent, though further details on where in the county the woman resides or where she traveled, are being withheld to protect her identity. “That is what we can really do, is decrease the number of mosquitoes that could bite you”.
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Garin stressed that vector control is the most important tool in combating the threat of Zika virus, as well as dengue and Chikungunya virus, both of which are also transmitted by the aedes aegypti mosquito. Meanwhile, travelers are being cautioned to wear long-sleeve shirts and long trousers and apply CDC-approved insect repellents. More information can be obtained from the DPH Health Alerts website http://healthalerts.ky.gov/Pages/Zika.aspx.
