The Minister said that the woman is 3 to 4 months pregnant, who lives in Taman Desa Harmoni, Johor Bahru.
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Zika infections in pregnant women cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect in which the head and the brain of the child are undersized along with many other abnormalities.
She is believed to have been infected by her husband, who commutes daily to and from his work in Singapore.
Malaysia reported its first case of Zika last week in a 58-year-old woman who had recently visited Singapore, and reported its first locally transmitted infection on Sunday. She was later taken to the government hospital where she was tested positive for the virus.
The first Zika case in Singapore was recorded in May after a 48-year-old man who had visited Brazil tested positive for the virus.
The 27-year-old woman in the southern state of Johor is the third case detected in Malaysia, where fears of a full-blown outbreak emanating from Singapore are mounting. The man however died the same day due to heart complications.
Preventive measures range from wearing long-sleeved clothing, putting on mosquito repellant lotion, using bed net during sleep, using condoms during intercourse, community fogging, usage of larvacide, cleanliness in the surroundings, and not travelling to countries that has a reported case of Zika virus.
Zika Virus is transmitted from the bite of an infected mosquito called Aedes aegypti, which is also responsible for other mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and Chikungunya.
The patient has been warded at a public hospital in Johor for further checks and treatment, he added. “And the only way to avoid increasing in numbers of cases is by self protection and in the control of breeding sites of Aedes mosquito”.
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Zika has been spiralling in Singapore since the beginning of September with health officials updating the number of cases to 275 on Tuesday, including two pregnant women.
