No one has yet been reported to have contracted the Zika infection from a mosquito bite that occurred in the U.S. All known cases have occurred when the victim traveled to a country where Zika is widespread, or contracted it sexually from a male partner who has been to one of those areas. Since evidence suggests that pregnant women with Zika but without symptoms can also have babies with microcephaly, the agency will now report all pregnant women with evidence of Zika virus.
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Zika can cause microcephaly, a birth defect, marked by a small head size and can lead to developmental problems in infants. Numerous 279 pregnant women being monitored by the CDC are still pregnant and so the outcomes of their infection aren’t clear at this time. Hundreds of babies with that devastating condition already have been born in South America, most notably in Brazil, where the current Zika outbreak began a year ago.
On Friday, the CDC announced it is now going to publicly report not only the number of pregnant women who test positive and show symptoms of the virus, but also pregnant women who display no symptoms but have shown laboratory evidence of possible exposure. The numbers include women who have shown symptoms of Zika, such as fever, rash and conjunctivitis, as well as those who remain asymptomatic but have tested positive for the disease. Of the 157 pregnant women in the USA who are being monitored, 49 percent reported symptoms, NPR reported. Those regions are home to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary vector for the virus. So far, over 270 women in the United States and Puerto Rico have been tested positive for Zika infection.
Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health says he’s stealing from malaria, tuberculosis and influenza research to finance the hunt for a Zika vaccine.
Previously, officials had reported how many pregnant women had both Zika symptoms and tested positive for the disease on blood tests.
President Barack Obama on Friday urged the U.S. Congress to pass a bill to boost emergency funding to deal with Zika, saying it was critical for Americans thinking about having children to be assured about the government’s response. Up to 20 percent of the island’s 3.5 million people are expected to contract the virus, health officials have said.
Meanwhile, Senator Patty Murray visited with doctors and health officials in Seattle Friday.
The U.S. senate has approved almost half of the money.
“We don’t know how often pregnant women get infected with Zika”, she says. “But this is something we have to take seriously”, Obama said. The statement stresses actions on the part of the Brazilian government to combat the threat and says a plan is in place to inspect standing water, where mosquitoes breed, on a daily basis.
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When he gets calls from patients, he said, “About 90 percent of what we’re doing is reassuring and calming people”.
