PAHO said the diagnosis of Zika virus is important, especially for the care and monitoring of pregnant women because of the possible link between the virus and the birth of babies with microcephaly and other congenital malformations.
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Women infected with the Zika virus have given birth to children with microcephaly, which is characterised by an abnormally small skull.
“…More information will be available in the future from a new CDC registry for USA pregnant women with confirmed Zika virus infection and their infants…”
CDC gave some details of some of the cases, including a pregnant woman in her 30s who traveled to a Zika-affected area early in her pregnancy.
“If you have a male partner who goes to the Olympics, either use condoms or abstain from sex for the duration of your pregnancy”, the agency wrote.
Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said she’s not surprised Zika crept into Iowa.
According to Julie Villanueva, PhD, the laboratory team lead at the CDC Zika Virus Response Team, the new test, called the CDC Zika IgM antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (MAC-ELISA), detects immunoglobulin M antibodies produced by the body in response to infection.
KPRC 2 first reported on January 11 about a case of the virus in Harris County.
Brazil said it has confirmed more than 580 cases of microcephaly, and considers a lot of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Most others typically have mild symptoms, such as fever, joint soreness, rash or red eyes.
But PAHO said the virus usually circulates in the blood of an infected person for five days or less.
Margaret Chan said the link between Zika virus and microcephaly is becoming stronger, but the virus still hasn’t been confirmed as the cause of the birth defects.
The WHO said that 46 countries have reported evidence of Zika infection and that 130 countries are home to the Aedis aegypti mosquito which carries the virus. Two U.S. women’s soccer players, Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux, had already planned to break for the Rio Games because of pregnancy, but another, Hope Solo, has expressed concerns about going over worries about future birth defects. A news release says the new case and three reported last week are believed to be travel-related.
Additional recommendations to prevent the sexual spread of Zika virus from returning travelers have also been issued by public health officials.
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On Friday, PAHO said, for health services, it is hard to report cases of Zika because up to 80 per cent of infected people have no symptoms.
