When the researchers looked at a subgroup of the pregnant women who had given birth and had knowledge of the precise week of their Zika infection, more than 90 per cent who were infected during the third trimester had given birth – yet not one of them gave birth to a baby with microcephaly or any other detectable brain abnormalities.
Advertisement
The three babies were born to women that showed laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said officials do not know whether Zika infection or other factors specifically caused the poor outcomes.
In total, the CDC announced that 234 pregnant women in the United States-including residents and visitors-have been diagnosed with Zika, while another 189 cases have been reported in US territories.
World Health Organization strongly advised pregnant women on Tuesday not to travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks of Zika virus due to the potential risk of birth defects.
One “disturbing” aspect of the cases in the report, Dr Jamieson said, was that the women who gave birth to the microcephalic babies displayed no symptoms of Zika – a commonality of 80 per cent of people who have the virus.
Zika has caused alarm throughout the Americas since numerous cases of the birth defect microcephaly linked to the mosquito-borne virus were reported in Brazil, the country hardest hit by the current outbreak.
Because the Aedes aegypti is also found in Hawaii and a southern swath of the USA mainland, health officials say mosquito-spread infections are likely in those places, too.
The CDC says that Zika illness is general mild – coming with a rash, fever and joint pain. There have not yet been any cases reported of local transmission of the virus in the US.
They problems include a rare and severe birth defect known as microcephaly, which is characterized by abnormally small heads and often underdeveloped brains, as well as an array of other fetal abnormalities.
Anh Ton, director of mosquito control for Broward County Public Works, has been working locally to curb the mosquito population. She said the agency plans to report outcomes of pregnancies of Zika-infected women weekly. Guillain-Barre syndrome has also been reported in patients after Zika infection.
So far, each case of sexual transmission of Zika involves transmission from an infected man to his partner.
Preventative measures residents can take to avoid mosquito bites include draining standing water around their property, wearing long-sleeved shirts and long trousers and using EPA-registered insect repellents.
It was the agency’s first report since launching the Zika pregnancy registry on June 9.
Global health officials suspect a connection between pregnant woman catching the virus and a birth defect called microcephaly in newborns.
Asked why the committee had not advised women to delay pregnancies, Dr. Heymann said he considered that a “national recommendation” rather than one under the W.H.O.’s mandate, which is to prevent the worldwide spread of diseases.
Advertisement
So Joseph says people in Pueblo don’t have to worry about Zika right now, but adds they still need to avoid mosquitoes. “Puerto Rico has already seen 600 instances of locally transmitted cases”. “There are real risks to Zika-virus infection in pregnancy”.
