In the Hawaii case, a doctor recognized the possibility of a Zika infection in the newborn baby with microcephaly and alerted state officials, the Hawaii State Department of Health department said in a written statement.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might impose new travel guidelines for women heading to places where a certain virus is present.
The child’s mother was living in Brazil in May and probably was infected by a mosquito then, early in her pregnancy, the health department said.
Four of those cases have recently been analysed, showing that babies were infected with the Zika virus while they were in the womb and that it reached their brains.
The CDC in particular warned pregnant women not to travel to those areas as Zika had been linked to serious birth defects.
A Brazilian woman bathes her son in this December 23, 2015 file photo. The had never before been any reported cases of the Zika virus in Hawaii, though the same mosquitoes who cause it have been responsible for transmitting the dengue virus to people in the state.
The virus was found in fetal and newborn tissues of babies with microcephaly in Brazil.
Symptoms can be treated, but no vaccine exists for Zika virus.
Canadian health officials have also issued a public health notice.
As of Saturday, those included 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.
“Out of an abundance of caution, pregnant women (are) advised to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing”, the CDC said.
Last month, Brazilian authorities identified Zika cases in 20 of 27 states, most notably in the state of Pernambuco, which reported more than 1,000 cases and three deaths.
Zika can be transmitted by an Aedes species mosquito that has bitten an infected person, but cannot spread between humans.
The Hawaii health department said it sent a medical advisory about the infection to doctors across the state but emphasised that neither the mother nor baby were infectious. Zika causes a mild illness with fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, with symptoms usually lasting under a week. Health officials believe Zika virus is to blame.
It said that 26 cases of Zika infection have been diagnosed in the United States since 2007 among people who contracted the disease outside the country.
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The virus is transmitted primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito. “There is no medication and there is no vaccine, but for most adults it will cause [only] a viral-type illness with body aches and fever”.
