The Washingon Post reported on Thursday that two USA women who contracted the Zika virus while traveling out of the country miscarried after returning home.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WWLTV) – The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals said it is investigating two presumptive cases of imported Zika virus in the state.
Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites.
A World Health Organization expert says scientists will probably need “a few more weeks” to establish if there is a definite link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barre Syndrome but said the link was “highly probable”.
“The illness may include a fever, a rash which is sometimes itchy, and joint pains”, Dr Taylor said.
Meanwhile, new details about the possible effects of the Zika virus on the fetal brain emerged Wednesday, as US health officials say mosquito eradication here and overseas is key to protecting pregnant women until they can develop a vaccine.
“Zika is not present in Australian mosquitoes, and there is no risk in the community of it being passed on”, she said.
“No. I haven’t heard our team talk about it once, to be honest”, she told a news conference Wednesday on the eve of playing Guyana at the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament.
Some virus infections in pregnancy, such as Rubella or German measles infections especially early in pregnancy, can spread from the mother and infect the cells of the fetus and cause direct injury to it, said Jesse Goodman, an infectious diseases doctor at Georgetown University. He said just a couple of drops of water in a bottle cap can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The main concern for pregnant women is the link of Zika to Microcephaly, a rare neurological condition in which a baby is born with a very small head.
That’s been reportedly happening in Brazil but federal health officials have not known of miscarriages in American travelers and they’re concerned this is the beginning of a large problem. Zika is active in areas including Brazil, Latin America and parts of the Caribbean, according to the CDC.
Three cases of the mosquito-borne virus have already been identified in Queensland this year, including one in a pregnant woman.
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Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro said hopes are high that a vaccine could be developed faster than usual.
