The mosquito-transmitted disease can cause microcephaly and other severe birth defects in babies born to women with Zika, scientists found last fall.
Advertisement
Two more Dallas County residents have tested positive for the Zika virus, bringing the total this year to 20, Dallas County Health and Human Services reported Monday.
Concerns over the Zika virus have reached a fever pitch across Florida, as researchers in southern portions of the state continue to investigate what could be the first cases of the virus spread by mosquitoes here in the United States.
Birth defects are one of the many risks pregnant women face if they come in contact with the Zika Virus.
The surge in birth defects has been much more noticeable in Brazil, the country hardest-hit by Zika, with nearly 166,000 cases this year.
Nancy Trinidad, who is 32 weeks pregnant, listens to the explanation of a doctor about how to prevent Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses at a public hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 3, 2016.
On Monday, U.S. health officials provided new Zika virus guidelines, warning pregnant women that they could contract the virus from a sex partner of either gender.
Zika, transmitted by the aggressive Aedes aegypti mosquito, has spread to at least 65 countries and territories.
All U.S. illnesses have been connected to travel to areas with Zika outbreaks.
In an earlier European case, in Slovenia, a Zika-infected mother apparently made a decision to have an abortion after learning that her foetus showed signs of microcephaly.
According to CDC guidance, providers should consider testing all pregnant women with a history of travel to a Zika affected area for the virus.
Authorities say the mother caught the virus on a trip overseas but did not specify in which country. The phenomenon was first detected in Brazil.
The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
Before the Zika outbreak, there were normally around 140 cases of microcephaly per year.
Advertisement
Officials had initially predicted Colombia would register 450,000 to 600,000 cases of Zika before the epidemic was over.
