Nine American women who traveled to Zika-affected countries while pregnant have tested positive for the virus, the Centers for Disease Control reported.
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The disease is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, although there are reports of transmission through blood transfusion and sexual contact. “The CDC continues to investigate the link between Zika cases in pregnant women and infants born with microcephaly, a birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected when compared with those of babies of the same sex and age”.
France’s minister for social affairs, health and women’s rights, Marisol Touraine, said the woman was not pregnant, therefore at low risk of any complications, and was recovering well. Puerto Rico is installing screens in the island’s high schools and plans to make screens available for the homes of pregnant women.
“Probably a lot of women will be infected with Zika no matter what we do, so we need to just accept that”, he said.
“Pregnant women need to be the most cautious, however”, says Dr. Lavoie.
“It’s important to note that 10-20% of all pregnancies end in a spontaneous miscarriage, so the fact that (Zika is) present doesn’t necessarily mean that it caused them”.
Regardless of this, however, the CDC, together with federal authorities, have remained vigilant in their attempts to combat the Zika virus.
The experts continue to urge anyone who has traveled to an area in which Zika is active showing signs of the illness-such as fever, rash, joint pain, or red eyes-to see a doctor immediately. This is in line with existing recommendations for pregnant women to postpone travel to areas where the virus is being transmitted.
Two cases of sexual transmissions of Zika from male travellers to their sexual partners have been confirmed in the United States in the last two weeks, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
So far, more than 80 Zika infections have been diagnosed in the US, and all have involved people who traveled to outbreak regions.
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“Even if certain parts are damaged or underdeveloped”, said Ganeshwaran Mochida, a neurologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, “sometimes with enough intervention early on, we are surprised how much they are capable of”. All four lost pregnancies and the single case of birth with microcephaly occurred in this group of women.
