The Zika virus is typically spread through mosquito bites, but the CDC said earlier this week they were investigating 14 new reports of sexual transmission of Zika, including several pregnant women.
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The mother is a 20-year-old woman whose pregnancy was normal until the 18th week, when the fetus’ weight was found to be far below normal.
Both showed the mild flu-like symptoms that most Zika patients exhibit, and both had rashes, Nemecek said, adding that they were left in home care.
While Zika virus is already linked – although not definitively – to microcephaly, the new study raises concerns that the disease can lead to even more severe brain damage and other birth defects.
Between November 2015 and February 13 a total of 5,280 cases of babies born with microcephaly and/or central nervous system malformation were reported in Brazil, including 108 deaths.
With no cure or vaccine for Zika, the only way to deal with the virus at present is to reduce the population of the Aedes mosquito that also carries the dengue and Chikungunya viruses.
There have been no confirmed cases of Zika virus in the state of CT, according to state health officials.
World Health Organization said there have been no cases of babies suffering severe neurological problems or brain damage after being infected with Zika after birth. Researchers have confirmed more than 460 of the cases in Brazil as microcephaly and identified evidence of Zika infection in 41 of these cases, but have not proven that Zika can cause the condition.
The report is in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Any pregnant woman who’s visited a Zika-infected region should tell her doctor and have her blood tested for the virus, hopefully from two to 12 weeks after potential exposure, Tache said.
A stillbirth in Brazil is offering another clue to possible health effects of the Zika virus, this time beyond the developing brain.
This digitally-colorized image shows particles of Zika virus, which is a member of the family Flaviviridae. Some of the confirmed cases here in the states have been linked to people who traveled to areas affected by the outbreak.
Doctors recommend that women in any stage of pregnancy avoid traveling to places affected by the Zika outbreak, such as Brazil, Temes said.
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The Zika virus, which is spread primarily through bites from infected mosquitoes (but can also be transmitted through sex), has spread rapidly throughout Central and South America.
