The CDC announced that one baby has been born with microcephaly, two women suffered miscarriages and two ended their pregnancies.
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Zika, a mainly mosquito-borne virus, has been linked to a spike in birth defects in Brazil, where thousands of babies have been born with unusually small heads since a year ago.
Approximately half a million pregnant women travel to the United States annually from the 32 Zika-affected countries and US territories with active transmission of Zika virus, the CDC said. If the virus does cause the birth defects, officials would expect to see a cluster of microcephaly in Colombia in June, based on the pattern of how Zika spread from Brazil. Two women had miscarriages, while two pregnancies resulted in the births of healthy infants.
“This is the first case of Zika in Argentina affecting a patient who had not traveled overseas”, Fortuna said.
The Zika virus, once seen as a problem far away, is now affecting women in the US.
As of February 3, there were 35 cases of Zika confirmed in the U.S.
The CDC is now investigating 10 other suspected cases of Zika in pregnant women that have not yet been confirmed by lab tests.
By the 30th week of the pregnancy, the foetus showed a range of birth defects and the researchers confirmed the presence of Zika virus in the foetus. The woman, who is in her 30s, started experiencing symptoms when she was about 11 to 12 weeks along in her pregnancy.
At approximately 20 weeks’ gestation, [the patient] underwent a fetal ultrasound that suggested absence of the corpus callosum, ventriculomegaly, and brain atrophy; subsequent fetal magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated severe brain atrophy.
The CDC also warned against the sexual transmission of Zika if a male partner is traveling to Brazil. Brazilian authorities have recommended that women abstain from having sex while the outbreak is ongoing.
Earlier on Friday, the CDC held a press briefing with updated information on the current status of Zika virus research.
The Virginia Department of Health will be responsible for creating Virginia localities on mosquito surveillance and control programs before the start of mosquito season on May 1.
The CDC is recommending that pregnant women avoid travel to Zika-affected regions, and that women living there take strong measures to avoid mosquitoes.
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Refuting concern of a Zika virus epidemic in Maine, Bennett said the disease was highly ‘unlikely to spread in the state because of the state’s chilly climate.
