It’s the eighth documented case in Brazil of miscarried fetuses or infants with microcephaly who died shortly after birth and had Zika virus in their brains.
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“If all the women in the cases the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is examining test positive for the virus … officials believe there is no way other than sex that they could have contracted it”, reports to the New York Times.
Federal and provincial health authorities have confirmed the first case of Zika virus in Saskatchewan.
To avoid infections in pregnant women, the department recommends that men take the newly released precautions, and that pregnant women postpone travel to areas where Zika virus is circulating; and take steps to avoid mosquito bites if travel is necessary.
Researchers already suspect (although have not yet proven) that Zika is associated with microcephaly, a condition which results in babies being born with unusually small brains. The birth defect called microcephaly can signal underlying brain damage. Miami-Dade County has 13 of the state’s 35 reported cases, while Broward County has four.
But the United Nations health agency acknowledged there were many unanswered questions, including how much Zika virus is contained in breast milk, whether mothers may pass on protective antibodies to their children from a previous Zika infection and how long the virus might persist in breast milk.
If Zika starts circulating locally, Lee said, he could conduct testing for that virus.
It’s not yet clear whether or not Zika caused the defects in this individual case.
The Zika virus was first identified in humans in Nigeria in the mid-1950s and there have been minor outbreaks of the disease in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Island since.
About six in 10 of those polled, about 57 percent, said they closely followed news about Zika.
Chan said Brazil has been very transparent in sharing information on the virus with the rest of the world, and taking a leadership role in collaborating with other countries in the research and development of diagnostic tools and a vaccine. The baby also had abnormal pools of fluid in other parts of its body.
Most of those infected with Zika do not develop symptoms, and those who become ill generally have only a minor fever, rash, eye problems and/or joint pain.
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By the 30th week of the woman’s pregnancy, the doctors knew the fetus would have several congenital conditions, the report said.
